I went to Eternal Weekend in Yokohama. I played ANT. Let me tell you about it.

Recently, new sets have changed the Legacy environment.
I don’t play Legacy often...
When I played Doomsday in America, I played a lot of Legacy and gained a lot of experience.
I relied on this experience for many years. Decks don’t change often.
Now...Karn? Wrenn and Six? Narset?
Decks changed. I have not played against those cards. I was not confident.
Luckily, I play combo; I can ignore many cards and focus on my own plan.

This is what I played:

4 Polluted Delta (汚染された三角州)
4 Scalding Tarn (沸騰する小湖)
2 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Island (島)
1 Swamp (沼)
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond (ライオンの瞳のダイアモンド)
4 Lotus Petal (水蓮の花びら)
4 Ponder (思案)
4 Preordain (定業)
4 Brainstorm (渦まく知識)
4 Duress (強迫)
4 Thoughtseize (思考囲い)
4 Dark Ritual (暗黒の儀式)
4 Infernal Tutor (冥府の教示者)
4 Cabal Ritual (陰謀団の儀式)
1 Tendrils of Agony (苦悶の触手)
2 Past in Flames (炎の中の過去)
1 Dark Petition (闇の誓願)
1 Ad Nauseam (むかつき)

Sideboard:
2 Chain of Vapor (蒸気の連鎖)
2 Flusterstorm (狼狽の嵐)
2 Veil of Summer (夏の帳)
1 Xantid Swarm (ザンティッドの大群)
2 Echoing Truth (残響する真実)
2 Hurkyl’s Recall (ハーキルの召還術)
2 Abrupt Decay (突然の衰微)
1 Massacre (虐殺)
1 Empty the Warrens (巣穴からの総出)

I didn’t know the environment, so I copied a deck from Cyrus Corman-Gill.
I thought about playing 2 maindeck Veil of Summer instead of Duress..
When I am not confident, I like to play strange cards because surprise wins games.
But I was afraid of Chalice of the Void, so I played a normal deck.

Round 1 – UW Delver OO
The opponent started Game 1 with Basic Island, Delver. Strange!
Next turn, he played...Basic Plains, Stoneforge Mystic?
Easy match. Storm is very good against Stoneforge Mystic.

Round 2 – Show and Tell XX
I lost to Cunning Wish twice.
Game 1, I cast Ad Nauseam on Turn 1.
I drew 1 Infernal Tutor, a lot of mana, and a lot of draw sources.
I stopped at 5 life, because I thought “The only way to lose is to reveal Dark Petition.”
I cast Dark Ritual, Duress, Thoughtseize, Thoughtseize. I was at 1 life.
The opponent only had 4 lands.
Every draw source I cast drew only land. I couldn’t get Hellbent.
I couldn’t win for four turns.
Turn 4, the opponent cast Narset, Parter of Veils. He found Cunning Wish.
Turn 5, he cast Cunning Wish for Sudden Shock. Fuck.
I needed a better strategy after Ad Nauseam.

Game 2, I cast Veil of Summer on my combo turn.
I knew the opponent had Cunning Wish in hand...
I decide to play around Surgical Extraction...
It didn’t matter. The opponent Wished for Mindbreak Trap.
(Why is a blue deck playing Mindbreak Trap in the sideboard?)

After this game, I ran into the Doomsday group (all playing ANT and TES--Sorry, Doomsday!)
They told me they wouldn’t have stopped resolving Ad Nauseam at 5 life.

Round 3 – Red Prison OO
I am fucking lucky.
Game 1, the opponent played Turn 1 Chalice of the Void (X=1).
Turn 2, he played Trinisphere.
I WON THIS GAME.
I drew many lands, and no 1 mana cards. I could cast everything.
On my combo turn, I cast Cabal Ritual 8 times.

Game 2, the opponent played Turn 1 Scab-Clan Berserker.
Turn 2, Goblin Rabblemaster. Turn 3, Legion Warboss.
I WON THIS GAME.
Abrupt Decay on Scab-Clan Berserker. I won with 2 life left.
I also used Chain of Vapor to play and replay my artifacts.

Round 4 – Eldrazi OXX
Game 1 I discarded Thought-Knot Seer and Chalice of the Void on Turn 1.
I was very lucky...for one game.

Games 2 and 3, I lost to Leyline of the Void.
Game 2 I didn’t have enough life to use Ad Nauseam, and Leyline stops Past in Flames.
Game 3, I cast Ad Nauseam on Turn 2. I drew a lot of 2 mana sideboard cards.
No Spell Mastery for Dark Petition, so I stopped at 1 life and no kill.
I died to Walking Ballista.

Round 5 – Aluren XOO
Game 1, the opponent mulliganned to five cards.
I cast Ad Nauseam. I drew many cards. I was at 5 life.
Remember when the Doomsday group told me “We wouldn’t stop at 5 life?”
My next card was Dark Petition, and I died. Fuck.

Game 2, I saw the opponent plays Veil of Summer, Ice Fang Coatl, Watcher for Tomorrow (what?!),
Recruiter of the Guard, and Collector Ouphe.
I won before my opponent could cast his Collector Ouphe.

Game 3, Massacre killed all of his creatures and gave me a lot of time. Easy win.

(I never saw any Aluren combo parts in any games; I didn’t know what the opponent was playing.)

Round 6 – Mono Red Sneak Attack. OO
Game 1, the opponent mulliganed to five cards.
He still had a Turn 3 Sneak Attack, but I had Thoughtseize to stop it.

Game 2, the opponent played Turn 1 Ilharg, the Raze Boar.
Too bad it isn’t faster than Turn 1 Past in Flames.

Round 7 – Grixis Delver XOX
Game 1, I kept a hand with only 1 land. It was destroyed by Wasteland.
I had Past in Flames in my hand, so if I drew lands I could win easily.
The opponent useds his counters on my draw sources.
He even cast Force of Will on my Brainstorms...
I drew no land, and died.

Game 2, I won with Empty the Warrens.
(When I was getting my tokens out, I realized 1 Duress was still in my deck box. I called a judge and got a warning).

Game 3, I drew all the lands I needed in Game 1; bad luck.

Round 8 – UW Stoneblade OXO
Game 1 is easy.

Game 2, the opponent mulliganed to five.
I cast Ad Nauseam, but I couldn’t win on the same turn.
I was at 1 life; I had to play Tendrils from my hand to gain life.
I needed more life to cast Thoughtseize to have no cards in hand for Hellbent.
Then the opponent cast Rest in Peace with Tendrils in the graveyard.

Game 3 is also easy.

Round 9 – Fucking Grixis Ninjas XX
Game 1, I had Turn 1 Ad Nauseam.
However, the opponent won the die roll, and played Thoughtseize.
I didn’t draw any good cards this game, so I died to Yuriko and Ingenious Infiltrator.
(Did you know that if both of those cards deal combat damage to you, the opponent draws 4 cards?)
The opponent surprised me with a Lightning Bolt, too--I’ve never seen Grixis Ninjas.

Game 2, I lost to Hymn to Tourach and Surgical Extraction.
I drew Past in Flames, which is the best card against discard decks.
The opponent also made a mistake and used his first Surgical Extraction on Veil of Summer.
It didn’t matter.
I could not find Infernal Tutor.
I realized too late that I should cast Past in Flames anyway to draw cards.
On the opponent’s turn: Hymn to Tourach, discard my Past in Flames, Snapcaster (Flashback Surgical Extraction on Past in Flames)

Round 10 – RUG Delver OO
The opponent was in a bad mood when he came to the table.
I wanted to tell him to cheer up...
Game 1, I win on the last turn. The opponent saw the combo start, and he got really frustrated. He had a Daze in hand, but I did not have enough mana to win with Past in Flames while playing around Daze.
If he played Daze at any time, I lose. But he just sat there, sad.
Instead of casting rituals after Past in Flames, I had to cast draw sources to look for discard or mana to handle Daze.
I didn’t find it, so I just cast Infernal Tutor with 4 mana in my pool.
He let it resolve, so he died.
After the game, I think he realized he made a mistake, but he was already angry so I don’t know.
(I also keep track of my mana on my own notebook, so maybe he didn’t know how much mana I had. But he had a Daze in his hand, he should have asked.)

Game 2 was shitty.
On my last turn, I had 8 life, my opponent had 11 power in play.
My hand was:
Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Thoughtseize, Infernal Tutor.
My battlefield was:
Lotus Petal, Underground Sea, Tropical Island.
I cast Thoughtseize. The opponent responded with Surgical Extraction on Dark Ritual.
He saw my Cabal Rituals and got upset.
Thoughtseize resolved. He had Stifle, Force of Will, Tarmogoyf. I discarded Stifle.
The game was over. We both had perfect information.
I cast Lotus Petal, activated both Lotus Petals for black and red, laid my hand down, thought, then tapped Tropical Island.
It was the first time the opponent looked happy.
He said, “You used your red mana to cast Cabal Ritual, right?”
No. We called a judge.
The judge called it a communication error, and we rewound to before I activated my Lotus Petals.
I’m already a sloppy player, and now 2 judges are counting my mana and Storm.
We all knew he was dead, but with all these eyes on my I couldn’t count straight.
10 rounds of Magic were finally making me tired.
It was painful for everyone (we all knew I won), and I looked like a terrible Storm player.
After the game, the opponent got up without speaking and left angry.
(Fuck you for wasting our time. It was Round 10, with no chance of prizes.)

I ended 6-4.
10 Rounds is the longest tournament I have played in.
I am surprised I didn’t make any mistakes from being tired.
However, I *did* make mistakes.
I cast Ad Nauseam many times, and rarely won on the same turn.
My decisions after Ad Nauseam were not always good.
I also believe I didn’t fetch Volcanic Island enough; some games would have been much easier if I could cast Past in Flames without using artifact mana.
I am also happy I didn’t play Veil of Summer in my maindeck. Duress was important!

Today, I played Legacy at a tournament in Hachinohe.
32 players. Six rounds, then single elimination. I played...Reanimator?!

Before Grand Prix Shizuoka, I bought the parts for Reanimator.
If I have the cards, why not play them?

I used the decklist and sideboard from this website:
https://teamrankstar.com/br-reanimator-sideboard-guide/

R1 Aminatou Trix 2-0
R2 Burn 2-0
R3 Maverick 1-2
R4 Stoneblade 1-2
R5 Grixis Control 2-1
QF Jund 2-1
SF Stoneblade 1-2

...I keep losing to Stoneblade in the semifinals!

I made two big mistakes today.
#1 I am not aggressive enough.
The Stoneblade opponent mulliganned to six cards. I cast Unmask, and he used Force of Will.
I thought he was protecting Surgical Extraction or Containment Priest. So I didn’t combo as soon as possible.
...He was protecting Swords to Plowshares, and he used the extra time to draw Nihil Spellbomb.

#2 I am inexperienced.
Semifinals, same Stoneblade player.
I miss this line of play:
Unmask the opponent’s Snapcaster Mage
Entomb for Archetype of Endurance
Animate Dead->Archetype of Endurance
Animate Dead->Snapcaster Mage
Flashback Entomb for Griselbrand

I realized this line of play on the way home to Oma.

Reanimator is powerful, and this was a fun tournament!
...But I’ll play something else next time.

Sorry for the late report!
I have been very busy at my job.
Also, my results at this tournament were shit so it was hard to stay motivated enough to write this.
Anyway! I played in an event in Morioka last week.
The first Ravnica information came out at the same time.
(Why is Narcomoeba rare?)
The tournament was five rounds, prizes based on standings, no single elimination.

I played the Daze ANT deck I talked about in my last post. This is the deck:

4 Polluted Delta (汚染された三角州)
4 Scalding Tarn (沸騰する小湖)
3 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Island (島)
1 Swamp (沼)
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond (ライオンの瞳のダイアモンド)
4 Lotus Petal (水蓮の花びら)
4 Ponder (思案)
4 Preordain (定業)
4 Brainstorm (渦まく知識)
3 Duress (強迫)
4 Thoughtseize (思考囲い)
4 Dark Ritual (暗黒の儀式)
3 Daze (目くらまし)
4 Infernal Tutor (冥府の教示者)
4 Cabal Ritual (陰謀団の儀式)
1 Tendrils of Agony (苦悶の触手)
1 Past in Flames (炎の中の過去)
1 Ad Nauseam (むかつき)

Sideboard:
1 Badlands
1 Engineered Explosives (仕組まれた爆薬)
1 Duress (強迫)
2 Surgical Extraction (外科的摘出)
1 Daze (目くらまし)
3 Echoing Truth (残響する真実)
2 Abrupt Decay (突然の衰微)
3 Empty the Warrens (巣穴からの総出)
1 Past in Flames (炎の中の過去)

Round 1 - Death and Taxes

The opponent had some stylish sleeves.
The sleeves said 平地 on them (it means Plains).
Usually I don’t pay attention to my opponent’s sleeves, because a blue player might like red sleeves, etc...
But this opponent had a conversation with the person next to him about it.
"Paul’s the only American who you’re giving information to because he can read that."
All right, so it’s a white deck. I was feeling good because I had Dazes.

Game 1

I played first.
My hand was Dark Ritual, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Ponder, Volcanic Island, Polluted Delta.

My turn 1 I cast Ponder, and shuffled my deck to draw a Duress. Useless.
Opponent’s turn 1, he played Plains, Mother of Runes.

My turn 2, I drew another Duress. Shit.
I cast Duress. Opponent’s hand is Plains, Plains, Plains, Rishadan Port, Stoneforge Mystic, Stoneforge Mystic, Recruiter of the Guard.

Opponent played Stoneforge Mystic to find Batterskull.
I cast Duress to discard that Batterskull.

I couldn’t find Infernal Tutor and kept drawing Duress, so I was in some trouble.

The opponent eventually cast Sanctum Prelate and said I couldn’t play 1 mana spells.
...Fine. Luckily, I used Cabal Rituals and found Infernal Tutor to combo without 1 mana spells.
(Opponent should have chosen 4 to end the game instantly.)

(W)

-2 Preordain, 3 Duress
+1 Engineered Explosives, 1 Daze, 3 Echoing Truth

Game 2

Island, Tropical Island, Scalding Tarn, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Echoing Truth, Infernal Tutor

My turn 1, I played Island, and cast Ponder.
I saw Daze and Lion’s Diamond.
Perfect. I drew Daze.
Opponent’s turn 2, he cast Thalia. I Dazed it.
My turn 2, I played land, Lotus Petal, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Infernal Tutor, Ad Nauseam.
Just like I planned it! ...Wait.
"In response to Ad Nauseam, Surgical Extraction your Infernal Tutors."
Well, that made things harder.

I finished resolving Ad Nauseam at 5 life. I cast Thoughtseize. The opponent only had 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. I used my second Thoughtseize to discard the second Thalia, and I was at 1 life.

If I could find Tendrils of Agony before my opponent found a creature, I could still win!
I didn’t find Tendrils of Agony in five turns. My opponent finally drew a creature on the sixth turn.

My opponent was very unlucky, but I was more unlucky!

(L)

Game 3

I mulliganed.
My seven card hand was Island, Scalding Tarn, Scalding Tarn, Ponder, Infernal Tutor, Infernal Tutor, Infernal Tutor
This hand looks too slow--Infernal Tutor takes time, and I must find cards I want to copy.
My six card hand was Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Preordain, Echoing Truth, Cabal Ritual, Cabal Ritual.
I scried Lotus Petal to the bottom of my library.

Basically, my opponent played 2 Wasteland and destroyed all my lands.

After the first Wasteland destroyed my Volcanic Island, I cast Ponder with Underground Sea.
The top three cards were Thoughtseize, Infernal Tutor, Cabal Ritual.
I kept these three on top of my library, even though I didn’t have another mana because I only have 4 Infernal Tutor in the deck.
My situation was bad enough that I thought I needed to take a risk to have any chance to win.
Instead, I lost to Wasteland #2. I’m not sure if I was correct.

(L)

(OXX:0-1)

Round 2 - Team America

I know this opponent. He could be playing basically anything. Often, he plays Show and Tell decks when he is being serious, so I decided not to keep any hand that would lose to a quick Show and Tell.

Game 1

I played first.
My hand was Underground Sea, Polluted Delta, Duress, Thoughtseize, Thoughtseize, Cabal Ritual, Tendrils of Agony.

This hand seems very good against a Show and Tell opponent, right?
My turn 1 I played Duress.
I saw Underground Sea, Polluted Delta, Misty Rainforest, Ponder, Brainstorm, Stifle, Nimble Mongoose.
Now this is a blast from the past. I made my opponent discard Brainstorm.

Opponent’s clock was very small.
I was able to build up to 8 cards, and I planned to kill him with the Tendrils of Agony in my hand on the turn before I died.
When I cast a discard spell, he tapped 5 lands for Force of Will.
Cool, I cast another discard spell. His hand was Force of Will, Force of Will, Daze.
If I had one more mana, I could win, but I didn’t have enough mana so I lost.

(L)

-1 Underground Sea, 1 Preordain, 3 Daze, 1 Ad Nauseam
+1 Badlands, 1 Engineered Explosives, 1 Duress

I believe an opponent playing Nimble Mongoose is someone weak to Engineered Explosives.
I’m not sure if it was correct to care about his creatures, though.

Game 2

My hand was Island, Tropical Island, Polluted Delta, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Empty the Warrens.

Opponent played Nimble Mongoose and Dark Confidant on turns 1 and 2.

My turn 3, I had enough mana to cast Empty the Warrens.
However, my opponent played Stifle and probably Flusterstorm, so I decided to wait until I could cast Duress and combo on the same turn.

Opponent’s turn 3, he played Collective Brutality and discarded my Duress. Shit.

Opponent’s turn 4, Dark Confidant revealed Leovold, Emissary of Trest.
He didn’t cast it, so I knew he wanted the mana for answer spells.

Later, I drew a second Empty the Warrens.
I waited until I had enough mana to cast both.
Opponent cast Stifle and countered Storm for Empty the Warrens #1.
I cast Empty the Warrens #2 and put 18 Goblins into play.
...But they all died to my opponent’s Golgari Charm.

On the last turn of the game, I drew Infernal Tutor.
Together with the lands and Lion’s Eye Diamond I had, I could make 8 mana, cast Past in Flames, and win.
Opponent had Spell Pierce, so I lost.

(L)

(xx:0-2)

The match seemed like bad luck.
To tell the truth, I felt like my opponent had more answers than I had discard.
The tournament had no single elimination rounds, and I have no chance of winning anything.
At this point, I was playing for more practice; I want to be prepared for GP Shizuoka.

Round 3 - BUG Midrange

Game 1

Opponent played first.
My hand was Scalding Tarn, Lotus Petal, Ponder, Dark Ritual, Daze, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Tutor.

Opponent’s turn 1 was Misty Rainforest, go.
My turn 1, I cast Ponder, shuffle and drew Scalding Tarn.
Opponent’s turn 2, he played Swamp, fetched for Bayou, and cast Hymn to Tourach.
"Ah, you tricked me, I thought you were blue," I said, then I Dazed the Hymn.
The opponent’s turn 3, he played an Underground Sea, and a Tarmogoyf.
(I got tricked real good)
The next turn, he played a Leovold.
I had no choice now, so I tried to combo.
...For some reason, opponent waited until after I cast Infernal Tutor with Flashback to finally counter any of my spells.
But he had counters, so I lost.

(L)

-2 Preordain, 3 Daze
+1 Badlands, 1 Duress, 1 Echoing Truth, 1 Empty the Warrens, 1 Past in Flames

Game 2

My hand was Tropical Island, Polluted Delta, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Duress, Infernal Tutor, Infernal Tutor.

My turn 1, I cast Duress.
Opponent’s hand was Polluted Delta, Misty Rainforest, Creeping Tar Pit, Ponder, Ponder, Surgical Extraction, Force of Will.
I made him discard Force of Will.

Opponent’s turn 1, he cast Ponder.

My turn 2, I tried to combo.
He drew Force of Will, and stopped me.
I kept playing because my opponent had no clock.

The opponent eventually cast a Tarmogoyf and started attacking.
I cast Thoughtseize and saw Flusterstorm, Surgical Extraction, Tarmogoyf.
I couldn’t win against those cards.

(L)

(xx:0-3)

How in the world have I played against Leovold in two matches in a row?!
Didn’t you hear that Deathrite Shaman was banned?

Round 4 - Miracles

Game 1
Opponent played first.
He mulliganed to five; I don’t remember where he put his scry card.

My hand was Underground Sea, Tropical Island, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor.

Opponent’s turn 1 was Tundra, go.
My hand could combo on turn 1...but I was afraid of his hand.
My fear was idiotic because my opponent only had four cards in hand.
I should have just tried to combo on turn 1.
...Anyway, I waited until turn 2, and I drew a Duress.
My opponent *did* have Force of Will, but I still think I should have tried to win on turn 1.
I won on turn 2 with Ad Nauseam.

(W)

-1 Preordain, 3 Daze
+1 Engineered Explosives, 1 Duress, 2 Abrupt Decay

Game 2

I mulliganed a hand with no land.
My six card hand was Swamp, Volcanic Island, Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Ad Nauseam.
I scried Past in Flames to the bottom of my library.

In this game, I went a long time without drawing any lands or discard.
Opponent used every turn to cast draw spells to find answers to my combo.
Later in the game, I finally drew lands...but it was too late.
This is what happened the last two turns of the game:

Cast Engineered Explosives.
Opponent countered with Force of Will.
Cast Cabal Ritual.
Opponent countered with Flusterstorm.
Cast Cabal Ritual.
Opponent counterer with Spell Pierce.
Ended the turn. On my next turn:
Cast Cabal Ritual.
It resolved.
Cast Ad Nauseam.
Opponent countered with Force of Will, exiling Flusterstorm.

...Fuck Miracles.

(L)

Game 3

I mulliganed another hand with no land.
My six card hand was Undergound Sea, Volcanic Island, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Ad Nauseam.
I scried Tendrils of Agony to the top of my library. The way the last game happened, I thought I can use Tendrils in my hand.

This game, I only drew one discard spell for the entire game.
My opponent played a draw spell every turn of the game for the first five or so turns.

When I finally cast my discard spell at the end of the game, this was my opponent’s hand:
Brainstorm, Flusterstorm, Spell Pierce, Counterspell, Back to Basics, Force of Will, Force of Will.

I couldn’t beat that.
...Fuck Miracles.

(L)

(oxx:0-4)

I feel like I was a little unlucky in that round.
I had to mulligan, and I didn’t draw enough discard.
More than that, I felt unprepared to play against Miracles.

Round 5 - Hypergenesis

Opponent was one of the friends I came to the tournament with.
I even lent him Faerie Macabres for his deck today.
This is not how I want to spend my last round of the day.

Game 1
Opponent plays first.
My hand is Polluted Delta, Lotus Petal, Brainstorm, Preordain, Preordain, Duress, Cabal Ritual.

Before the game starts, the opponent reveals Chancellor of the Annex.
Opponent’s turn 1 is Hickory Woodlot, go.

My turn 1 is Preordain (countered by Chancellor)

My turn 2, I cast Duress.
The opponent’s hand is Boseiju, Who Shelters All, City of Brass, Shardless Agent, Violent Outburst, Chancellor of the Annex, Nicol Bolas, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.
My opponent can cast Shardless Agent for Hypergenesis no matter what I do.
I decide to try to win through Hypergenesis, until I remember that Chancellor of the Annex has abilities when it is in play.

(L)

Was this how my whole day was going to finish?

-3 Preordain
+2 Surgical Extraction, 1 Duress

Game 2
opponent mulligans to five cards, scry to bottom

Tropical Island, Polluted Delta, Brainstorm, Preordain, Surgical Extraction, Infernal Tutor, Ad Nauseam

This game ended quickly.
My turn 2, I cast Brainstorm, I found a Duress, and opponent had Hypergenesis in his hand.
I exiled Hypergenesis from his deck, and he didn’t draw enough land to cast Eureka.

(W)

Game 3
opponent mulligans to six, scry to bottom
Polluted Delta, Polluted Delta, Polluted Delta, Lotus Petal, Duress, Thoughtseize

Opponent also didn’t draw lands this game.

(W)

(xoo:1-4)

I finally won a match, but my opponent didn’t do anything for two games and I won against my friend at the bottom table in the last round of the event.
How bittersweet.

The final result for me that day was 1-4.
It was abysmal.
My metagame prediction was very wrong, and I played against many blue decks.
I even played against fucking Leovold twice!
Why did this happen? Well, most of the players I talk to at the Morioka events don’t play blue...
I forgot about the players I *don’t* know well.
Two of my blue opponents were people whose names I do not know.

I really missed Gitaxian Probe and Cabal Therapy.
In many matches, I didn’t have enough discard spells to answer my opponents’ counters.

Many of you know me for playing combo, but I believe I am still not used to playing ANT.
I *can* play ANT at a normal level, but some decisions are difficult, and I’m not used to Storm math.
For example, I spent one minute thinking about my turn 1 combo against Miracles.
If an opponent has to make important decisions, they will see that I am very close to comboing if I take so much time.
Hopefully, I can become better with practice.

Anyway, tune in next time for when I cast Mind’s Desire.

Before the last B&R announcement, I was playing a strange ANT deck.

The deck was not my idea. I received the deck idea from Kai Sawatari.
Recently, he was in 16th place at Eternal Weekend Asia.
You can see his list here: https://mtg.bigweb.co.jp/article/ewasia2018-legacydeck_9-32

The most interesting thing about this deck is Daze.
Kai and another storm player (Jon Alexander) built the Daze Storm deck for GP Chiba 2016.
Why Daze?
Storm is very weak to anti-combo permanents.
Counterspells? Storm spells are naturally strong, and so is discard.
Discard? Past in Flames is very strong.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben? Oh no.
Chalice of the Void? Holy shit.

Most decks with anti-combo permanents can’t play the cards until turn 2.
ANT wins on turn 2 often (about 40% of the time).
If you survive an opponent’s turn 2, you win very often.
So, you can stop the turn 2 card with a Daze.
ANT is so fast that opponents can’t wait for extra mana to pay for Daze.
Daze stops *every* turn 2 spell; 1 Thoughtseize can’t stop an opponent with 2 anti-combo permanents.
Daze is free; on turn 1 you can choose to use Ponders and Preordains instead of casting Thoughtseize for anti-combo permanents.

Daze also taught me to make better choices in games to win by Turn 3--or Daze becomes very bad, fast!

After Eternal Weekend, I asked Kai about the Badlands.
ANT *must* play Swamp, but isn’t a second non-Island land bad for Daze?
He agreed, but he wanted more than one red mana source for Empty the Warrens.
These are the changes.

Maindeck:
-1 Badlands
+1 Underground Sea

New Sideboard:
1 Badlands
2 Cabal Therapy (陰謀団式療法)
2 Dread of Night (夜の戦慄)
1 Daze (目くらまし)
3 Echoing Truth (残響する真実)
2 Abrupt Decay (突然の衰微)
3 Empty the Warrens (巣穴からの総出)
1 Past in Flames (炎の中の過去)

Badlands is in the sideboard because you don’t want to play Daze when you play Empty the Warrens.

This new plan looks good, but the Tohoku metagame is different...
I made some changes.

First, I decided not to play Dread of Night.
I hate that card. It only hurts Death and Taxes, which is not popular here.
Nic Fit/Maverick are more popular, but there are no good mass removal cards for Gaddock Teeg.
Massacre and Engineered Explosives are bad...but Dread of Night is the worst.
There are already 4 Daze, 3 Echoing Truth, and 2 Abrupt Decay...maybe I’m okay.

Instead of Dread of Night, I wanted to play either 2 Flusterstorm or 2 Surgical Extraction.
To decide, I wrote a sideboard plan.
After writing my plan, I learned:

I never wanted to side in 2 discard spells
I didn’t side in Flusterstorm against anything except combo
I didn’t want to miss with Cabal Therapy

So, I removed 2 Cabal Therapy, put in 1 Thoughtseize, 2 Surgical Extraction.

Then, I noticed: many times, my plan was -1 Duress, +1 Thoughtseize.
So I chose to play 4 Thoughtseize in the mainboard instead.
I had one free space in my sideboard.
I really wanted to try Bitterblossom...but isn’t it too slow?
I chose Engineered Explosives, because it can be useful against Thalia, Counterbalance, and Chalice.
I also changed my plans so I didn’t use Abrupt Decay against Chalice and Thalia.

This is what I’m playing.

4 Polluted Delta (汚染された三角州)
4 Scalding Tarn (沸騰する小湖)
3 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Island (島)
1 Swamp (沼)
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond (ライオンの瞳のダイアモンド)
4 Lotus Petal (水蓮の花びら)
4 Ponder (思案)
4 Preordain (定業)
4 Brainstorm (渦まく知識)
3 Duress (強迫)
4 Thoughtseize (思考囲い)
4 Dark Ritual (暗黒の儀式)
3 Daze (目くらまし)
4 Infernal Tutor (冥府の教示者)
4 Cabal Ritual (陰謀団の儀式)
1 Tendrils of Agony (苦悶の触手)
1 Past in Flames (炎の中の過去)
1 Ad Nauseam (むかつき)

-1 Duress, +1 Thoughtseize is the only change.

Sideboard:
1 Badlands
1 Engineered Explosives (仕組まれた爆薬)
1 Duress (強迫)
2 Surgical Extraction (外科的摘出)
1 Daze (目くらまし)
3 Echoing Truth (残響する真実)
2 Abrupt Decay (突然の衰微)
3 Empty the Warrens (巣穴からの総出)
1 Past in Flames (炎の中の過去)

I played this deck in a tournament in Morioka this weekend. I’ll tell you more later!

The second tournament last weekend did not go very well.

I played an event in Morioka.
It was a side event for a tournament called the Polar Star Open.
We had 42 players! Five rounds, then single elimination.

Of course, I played Doomsday. However, I changed my sideboard.

This was my sideboard:

２　Flusterstorm (狼狽の嵐)
２　Hurkyl’s Recall (ハーキルの召還術)
１　Echoing Truth (残響する真実)
１　Rushing River (急流)
１　Thoughtseize (思考囲い)
２　Fatal Push (致命的な一押し)
２　Surgical Extraction (外科的摘出)
１　Collective Brutality (集団的蛮行)
１　Faerie Macabre (フェアリーの忌み者)
１　Consign//Oblivion (徙家+忘妻)

I don’t like Surgical Extraction, but I need anti-graveyard cards.
...Reanimator is a problem.
If I had Leyline of the Void, I might use that.
Faerie Macabre is because I lent someone my other Surgical Extractions.
Collective Brutality was a test. Discard is good, and anti-creature cards are good...right?
Rushing River was because I couldn’t think of another card.

Round 1 - Mono Red Sneak Attack

The opponent is the person who drove me to the event.
We both know what we’re playing against.

The opponent plays first.

Game 1, I keep Underground Sea, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Conjurer’s Bauble, Preordain, Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual, Laboratory Maniac.
The opponent mulligans to six, then scrys a card to the top of his library.

The opponent’s first turn, he plays Chalice of the Void.
I can’t win with Storm anymore, but I have Laboratory Maniac in my hand, so maybe I can do something...
Nope! Turn 3 Sneak Attack, Turn 4 Griselbrand and Emrakul attack.

(L)

There was nothing I could do.

-1 Preordain, 2 Cabal Therapy, Rain of Filth
+Thoughtseize, Echoing Truth, Rushing River, Consign//Oblivion

Game 2, I keep Lotus Petal, Chromatic Sphere, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Ponder, Cabal Therapy, Consign//Oblivion.
Looking back, I think this was a bad keep.
I had no lands. At the time I thought Gitaxian Probe and Ponder would find land, however...
The risk is high (not playing the game), and the reward is low (playing the game).
If the reward was "winning the game" a high-risk hand is okay, but if I need land to play, I should mulligan for land.
Losing Game 1 affected me a little bit.
Anyway. I cast Gitaxian Probe. I see City of Traitors, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, Trinisphere, Seething Song, Sneak Attack, Through the Breach.
I use Lotus Petal to cast Cabal Therapy to discard Trinisphere.
It doesn’t matter, my opponent’s next draw is Griselbrand.
Sneak Attack puts Griselbrand in play, then puts Emrakul in play.
I died on Turn 1.

(L)

Should I have discarded a different card with Cabal Therapy? The game would have lasted longer than Turn 1, but would I have any chance of winning?
I lost on Turn 1, but I think I lost before that because I kept a no-land hand.

What a way to start the event!

Round 2 - Esper Stoneblade

The opponent plays first.

I keep Island, Conjurer’s Bauble, Gitaxian Probe, Preordain, Brainstorm, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Laboratory Maniac.
This hand also looks a bit weak, but I have a lot of draw sources so my hand will soon look very different.

My Turn 1, I play Gitaxian Probe. I see Underground Sea, Swords to Plowshares, Swords to Plowshares, Stoneforge Mystic, Stoneforge Mystic, Liliana of the Veil.
My opponent has nothing to stop Doomsday.
The judge passes by right before I cast Doomsday. "Please come here, I’ll need you in a moment," I say.
I cast Doomsday and win with Laboratory Maniac, using Chromatic Sphere.
Chromatic Sphere is a mana ability and doesn’t use the stack, so I countered 2 Swords of Plowshares.

(W)

My first win of the day felt good, at least!

-1 Lion’s Eye Diamond, 2 Preordain, 2 Cabal Therapy, Cruel Bargain
+Thoughtseize, 1 Fatal Push, Collective Brutality, Rushing River, Massacre, Consign//Oblivion

This is when I am noticing an issue with my sideboard. I have so many cards I can side in, but I can’t take too many cards out because I am a combo deck.

Stoneblade is interesting. They have every type of anti-combo (permanents, discard, counters).
I decided I was more afraid of permanents--if I was afraid of spells, I would keep in Cruel Bargain and side in Flusterstorm.

Game 2, I keep Island, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Brainstorm, Collective Brutality, Rushing River, Tendrils of Agony.

The opponent plays Turn 1 Deathrite Shaman.
My Turn 1, I play Gitaxian Probe. I see Island, Tundra, Wasteland, Brainstorm, Stoneforge Mystic.
This entire game, my opponent had no answers, but I could not find Doomsday, so I lost.

(L)

Consign//Oblivion almost did something.
My opponent had to use Deathrite Shaman to prevent me from casting Oblivion.
I also made a mistake--I used both Consign and Rushing River to return 2 Deathrite Shaman to my opponent’s hand, then I discarded them with a Cabal Therapy.
If I had planned it earlier, I could have used Rushing River to save my Consign.
(Also this wouldn’t be a problem if I just played Echoing Truth!)

I didn’t see any anti-combo permanents, but I didn’t think about it and I didn’t change my sideboard.

Game 3, I mulligan to 6 cards.
My seven card hand had no land.
My six card hand was Island, Swamp, Underground Sea, Flooded Strand, Brainstorm, Conjurer’s Bauble. I scry Dark Ritual to the top of my library.
The opponent mulligans to six, and keeps a card on top of his library.

The same thing happened in this game. My opponent had no answers, but I had no Doomsday and could not win.

(L)

I was worried about this because I only play 4 Doomsday and 2 Lim-Dul’s Vault, but this is the first time I have had trouble finding combo parts.

Maybe I shouldn’t side out Preordain? I’m not certain.

Round 3 - BUG Something

I play first.

Game 1, my hand is Underground Sea, Preordain, Brainstorm, Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual.

On Turn 2 the opponent uses Wasteland on my Underground Sea, and I forget to Brainstorm.
I am able to find Swamp, but I can’t do anything.
I cast Cabal Therapy and see Vapor Snag, Liliana, the Last Hope, Leovold, Emissary of Trest, and Gurmag Angler.
The opponent also cast Daze earlier in the game...What the hell is this?
I lose this game quickly to Leovold...except my opponent chooses not to cast Leovold for about six turns.
Unable to take advantage of this chance because I have no blue mana, I keep playing to see more of this crazy deck.
The turn before I lose, I see Umezawa’s Jitte so my efforts were not in vain.

(L)

-Chromatic Sphere, 2 Preordain, 1 Cabal Therapy, 1 Duress
+Thoughtseize, 1 Fatal Push, Echoing Truth, Rushing River, Consign

Game 2, my opening hand is Island, Swamp, Flooded Strand, Flooded Strand, Thoughtseize, Duress, Doomsday.
This looks good--just make him discard all his cards and cast Doomsday to pass the turn.
The opponent mulligans to six. He scrys a card to the bottom of his deck.

Turn 1 I cast Thoughtseize to see Misty Rainforest, Verdant Catacombs, Wasteland, Surgical Extraction, Chill, Leovold, Emissary of Trest.
Chill makes me feel good. I have Thoughtseize and Duress for the two problems.
I win this game.

(W)

I was a little too cautious and almost lost, so I need to be more aggressive.

Game 3, I keep Polluted Delta, Polluted Delta, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Conjurer’s Bauble, Ponder, Brainstorm, Duress.
The opponent mulligans to six and scrys a card to the top of his library.

Turn 1 I draw a Gitaxian Probe and cast it. I see Brainstorm, Surgical Extraction, Snapcaster Mage, Daze.
This game is very difficult because my opponent has 2 Surgical Extraction and a Snapcaster Mage I have to stop.
Conjurer’s Baubles were good for countering Surigical Extraction, but I was not able to have one in play on my combo turn.
The opponent may not have seen that Surgical Extraction can shuffle my deck, but that’s a big risk I didn’t want to take.
On the last turn I can win, my opponent plays Vendillion Clique, and I respond with Brainstorm.
I needed one more spell to win with Tendrils of Agony with 2 Lion’s Eye Diamond and a Conjurer’s Bauble.
I go through the motions and the opponent concedes.
I’m not trying to deceive him though, so I tell him he’s still alive and I concede myself.

(L)

I’m 0-3 now, and not feeling great.
But I can’t leave because my friends are still playing...
There is still much to learn, so I will play the last two rounds.

Round 4 - Elves

The opponent remembers me from last time I went to Iwate.
He says: "I wonder what you’re playing this time...Probably not Doomsday because Top is banned, right?"
I laugh and reply: "Topless Doomsday."
He doesn’t believe me.

The opponent plays first.

I mulligan to six cards.
My seven card hand is Underground Sea, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Brainstorm, Cabal Therapy, Duress, Ideas Unbound.
My six card hand is Island, Flooded Strand, Underground Sea, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Preordain, Duress. I scry Preordain to the top of my library.

The opponent plays Forest and casts Nettle Sentinel, so I immediately remember him.
My Turn 1 I cast Duress. The opponent’s hand is Walking Ballista, Heritage Druid, Green Sun’s Zenith, and Elvish Visionary.
The opponent has no combo cards, so I show him that I’m not joking and win with Doomsday this game.

(W)

-Chromatic Sphere, 2 Preordain, 1 Cabal Therapy, 2 Duress
+Thoughtseize, 2 Fatal Push, Echoing Truth, Massacre, Consign//Oblivion
I should not have sided in Massacre.
(Too many good memories of casting Massacre against Elves...)

Game 2, my opening hand is Flooded Strand, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Ponder, Cabal Therapy, Doomsday, Consign.
The opponent mulligans to five cards. He scrys a card to the bottom of his library.

I have a lot of time. I know my opponent plays Mindbreak Trap, and that is the only card I am afraid of. He doesn’t have it, so I win easily.

(W)

Round 5 - All Spells (The Spy)

The opponent plays first.

Game 1, my opening hand is Island, Swamp, Polluted Delta, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Cruel Bargain.

Turn 1 my opponent plays Lotus Petal, go.
...I don’t know what’s happening...
Until I die on Turn 2 to Balustrade Spy.

(L)

-Chromatic Sphere, 1 Preordain, 1 Cabal Therapy, 1 Rain of Filth, Tendrils of Agony
+Thoughtseize, 2 Flusterstorm, 2 Surgical Extraction, 1 Faerie Macabre

I removed Tendrils of Agony because I think my opponent has no way to stop me other than being faster than me.

Game 2, I mulligan to six cards.
My seven card hand was Lion’s Eye Diamond, Flusterstorm, Thoughtseize, Surgical Extraction, Laboratory Maniac, Doomsday, Doomsday.
I considered Keeping this because of Surgical Extraction...but he has to have some answers to that, right?
My six card hand was Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Ponder, Brainstorm, Cabal Therapy, Laboratory Maniac. I scry Lion’s Eye Diamond to the top of my library.
The opponent mulligans to four! He scrys a card to the top of his library.
My friend comes over, and I comment: "My opponent has mulliganed to four. I should commit harakiri if I lose this game."

Turn 1, I cast Ponder. I find a Gitaxian Probe and a Flusterstorm.
On Turn 2, I’ll have Gitaxian Probe + Cabal Therapy, and Flusterstorm.
If only I had a second turn!
The opponent plays Gitaxian Probe, Gitaxian Probe, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Undercity Informer, Summoner’s Pact for Elvish Spirit Guide, and I am dead.

当然の報い！ (I got what I deserved!)

(L)

So my record was 1-4. Not very good.
Two of my losses were to Turn 1 combo decks though, and there was nothing I could do.

What did I learn?
I have a lot of sideboard space...but I don’t have a lot of maindeck space.
Even if I have 15 cards against one deck, I can’t use all of them at once.
Too many of my cards have similar effects.

I didn’t like Flusterstorm.
It might be good against decks I didn’t play against, but I didn’t want them most of the time.

I don’t know if I should play 2 Fatal Push.
I only ever sided in 1 when I played.

I think I can use an alternate win because I have so much space.
More testing is required to decide what I will use.

This weekend, I played in two tournaments.

Of course, I played Doomsday.
Last time, I used a transforming sideboard. It might be a good idea...
However, because of my sideboard, I still don’t know if Doomsday is good!
This time, I decided to stay with Plan A to learn about Doomsday.

My maindeck didn’t change:

３　Flooded Strand (溢れかえる岸辺)
４　Polluted Delta (汚染された三角州)
１　Marsh Flats (湿地の干潟)
３　Underground Sea
２　Island (島)
２　Swamp (沼)

４　Lion’s Eye Diamond (ライオンの瞳のダイアモンド)
１　Lotus Petal (水蓮の花びら)
３ Conjurer’s Bauble (妖術者のガラクタ)
１　Chromatic Sphere (彩色の宝球)
４　Gitaxian Probe (ギタクシア派の調査)
４　Ponder (思案)
３　Preordain (定業)
４　Brainstorm (渦まく知識)
３　Cabal Therapy (陰謀団式療法)
３　Duress (強迫)
４　Dark Ritual (暗黒の儀式)
１　Rain of Filth (汚物の雨)
１　Ideas Unbound (留まらぬ発想)
２　Lim-Dul’s Vault (リム＝ドゥールの櫃)
１　Laboratory Maniac　(研究室の偏執狂)
１　Cruel Bargain (残酷な取り引き)
４　Doomsday (最後の審判)
１　Tendrils of Agony (苦悶の触手)

But this was my sideboard:

１　Shelldock Isle (殻船着の島)
３　Flusterstorm (狼狽の嵐)
１　Echoing Truth (残響する真実)
２　Hurkyl’s Recall (ハーキルの召還術)
１　Thoughtseize (思考囲い)
２　Fatal Push (致命的な一押し)
２　Surgical Extraction (外科的摘出)
１　Massacre (虐殺)
１　Consign // Oblivion (徙家+忘妻)
１　Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (引き裂かれし永劫、エムラクール)

To be honest with you, I played Burning Wish for so long...
I don’t know what to do with so much sideboard space.
Furthermore, I am not used to this version of Doomsday, so I don’t know my weaknesses.

I was late to the tournament and couldn’t decide on my last two cards so I quickly added Emrakul and Shelldock Isle.

Anyway, the first event was in Hachinohe. It was less than 8 people, so we played 3 rounds just for fun.

Round 1 - White Eldrazi

My life is hell. This match is against my friend.
I know his deck, and it has Thalia, Thought-Knot Seer, and Lodestone Golem in it.

I play first.

Game 1, I keep Flooded Strand, Lotus Petal, Preordain, Duress, Duress, Dark Ritual, Doomsday.
Turn 1, I cast Duress. I see Cavern of Souls, Karakas, Wasteland, Chalice of the Void, Chalice of the Void, Mox Diamond, Reality Smasher.
I take Chalice of the Void, then use Lotus Petal and my second Duress for the second Chalice.
The opponent uses Wasteland to destroy my land, but I draw a land soon.
Preordain finds the rest of the cards to combo.
...I can’t believe it, but I won.

(W)

-1 Lion’s Eye Diamond, 1 Preordain, 2 Cabal Therapy, 1 Cruel Bargain
+Thoughtseize, Echoing Truth, 2 Hurkyl’s Recall, Consign//Oblivion

Game 2, I mulligan to six.
My seven card hand was Swamp, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Ponder, Brainstorm, Duress, Dark Ritual. Swamp hurt me here.
I keep Swamp, Underground Sea, Conjurer’s Bauble, Hurkyl’s Recall, Doomsday, Doomsday. I scry Brainstorm to the top of my library.
The opponent mulligans to five. He scrys a card to the top of his library.

The game starts with the opponent putting 2 Leyline of the Void in play.
I don’t know why...I’ve known him for five years...he should know Leyline isn’t good.
Anyway, his hand had no land, but the next two turns are Ancient Tomb then Chalice of the Void. He is a bit lucky.
I draw Ideas Unbound and use it to fix my hand before I cast Hurkyl’s Recall.
I find the parts to combo. As I combo, I try to take Ideas Unbound from my graveyard and my friend reminds me it’s exiled.
...Holy shit. I also sided out Cruel Bargain...
However, my opponent is at 12 life because of Ancient Tomb, so I am also lucky and I can use my draw sources to make enough Storm for Tendrils of Agony.
...All you need to win against Eldrazi is your opponent to mulligan to death.

(W)

Round 2 - Jeskai Stoneblade

The opponent plays first.

I keep Island, Polluted Delta, Underground Sea, Conjurer’s Bauble, Brainstorm, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Doomsday.
The opponent mulligans to six. He scrys a land to the top of his library.
His first turn is Plains, go. His second turn is Karakas, Stoneforge Mystic.
This looks like Death and Taxes, but I know my friend so I know he just has no blue land.
Brainstorm finds Dark Ritual and Lion’s Eye Diamond.
I use Lim-Dul’s Vault as bait, and the opponent uses Force of Will. Then I cast Doomsday and win.

(W)

-1 Lion’s Eye Diamond, 2 Preordain, 1 Cabal Therapy, 2 Duress
+Thoughtseize, 2 Fatal Push, Echoing Truth, Massacre, Consign//Oblivion

During sideboarding, the opponent mentions "...8 is a lot of fucking cards..."
He thinks he has a lot of good sideboard cards for me, then.

Game 2, I keep Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Ponder, Duress, Dark Ritual.
I cast Duress on Turn 1. The opponent’s hand is Flooded Strand, Flooded Strand, Spell Pierce, Snapacaster Mage, Force of Will.
I discard Force of Will.
Later, the opponent casts Meddling Mage, and names Doomsday.
My draw sources find another Dark Ritual and Tendrils of Agony...I have a plan.
A few turns later, I am able to use my cards to cast Tendrils of Agony with Storm 9 without casting Doomsday.

(W)

At this point, I notice that I have not wanted Emrakul against both of my opponents.
Emrakul seems very bad right now.

Round 3 - Jund

The opponent plays first.

Game 1, I keep Flooded Strand, Underground Sea, Conjurer’s Bauble, Gitaxian Probe, Gitaxian Probe, Brainstorm, Brainstorm.
The opponent plays Thoughtseize on Turn 1 and discards a Brainstorm.
I cast Gitaxian Probe on Turn 1. My opponent’s hand is Bayou, Deathrite Shaman, Tarmogoyf, Tarmogoyf, Bloodbraid Elf.
The opponent plays another Thoughtseize, but his pressure is too weak and my card selection is too strong, so I win with Doomsday.
My notes say "I got lucky," so I think I won right before the Tarmogoyfs killed me.

(W)

-3 Cabal Therapy
+3 Flusterstorm

Game 2, I keep Flooded Strand, Chromatic Sphere, Ponder, Preordain, Flusterstorm, Duress, Dark Ritual.
The opponent plays Duress on Turn 1 and discards Duress.
I play my land on Turn 1.
Turn 2, the opponent plays Thoughtseize. I cast Flusterstorm.
The opponent doesn’t understand Storm, so first he tries to pay 1. Then he tries to cast Pyroblast to counter it.
Neither works and this isn’t a serious tournament, so I let him take back both plays.
My turn, I cast Preordain for Pyroblast, but he doesn’t cast it.
Also...he casts Pyroblast on another Preordain 3 turns later.
If you want to use Pyroblast on draw sources, it is better to counter spells early!
I lose this game because my opponent plays 3 Hymn to Tourach.

(L)

Game 3, I keep Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Conjurer’s Bauble, Preordain, Brainstorm, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Tendrils of Agony.
Turn 2 I cast Gitaxian Probe to see Bloodstained Mire, Verdant Catacombs, Hymn to Tourach, Tarmogoyf, Abrupt Decay, Bloodbraid Elf.

Later in this game, I am in this situation:

Battlefield:
Underground Sea, Underground Sea, Conjurer’s Bauble

Hand:
Preordain, Dark Ritual, Doomsday, Tendrils of Agony

The opponent has no mana and no cards in hand that matter.
Can you win? I didn’t want to think about it so I ended my turn.
No matter. I drew Ideas Unbound later, and the 3 cards I drew were perfect.
I made a pile to avoid losing to Abrupt Decay on Conjurer’s Bauble after Doomsday, but my opponent didn’t think about it.
Also, I should have cast Lion’s Eye Diamond before Doomsday to see if my opponent would use Abrupt Decay so I had more information before I decided on my Doomsday cards.
Either way, I win!

(W)

I was undefeated!
However, if you look closely, I won because my opponents don’t know what my deck does.
Round 1 the opponent mulliganned to 3 (because Leyline didn’t do much).
Round 2 the opponent didn’t know that I can actually cast Tendrils without Doomsday.
Round 3 the opponent didn’t use his cards optimally and I took advantage.

This isn’t proof the deck is good!
I didn’t feel confident about my sideboard, and I didn’t feel confident about my deck.
More practice is necessary, and I need to make a better sideboard...

When I have more time later, I’ll write about the second tournament.

I played in a tournament in Hachinohe last weekend.

I talk about my deck here: http://agyekum.diarynote.jp/201708012350364611/

There were 29 players. Six rounds, then 8 player single elimination.

Round 1 - UW As Foretold

I play first.

Game 1, my hand is Lion’s Eye Diamond, Underground Sea, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Laboratory Maniac, Doomsday.

I don’t draw any lands nor draw sources for many turns.
However, my opponent’s deck is slow, and he has no answers.
I eventually draw Conjurer’s Bauble and Duress, so I take a Force of Will and win with Doomsday.

(W)

-1 Swamp, 1 Underground Sea, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 2 Preordain, Rain of Filth, 1 Doomsday
+Plains, Tundra, Engineered Explosives, 1 Enlightened Tutor, Defense Grid, 2 Auriok Salvagers

This is the only game I play Doomsday and Auriok Salvagers.
I know my opponent plays Monastery Mentor, and I assume Ethersworn Canonist is in the deck, so I bring in Engineered Explosives.
I don’t bring in Consign because Auriok Salvagers can win even when Ethersworn Canonist is in play.

Game 2, my hand is Island, Underground Sea, Conjurer’s Bauble, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual.
The opponent mulligans to five cards. His scry puts a card on the bottom of his deck.

On Turn 1, I cast Gitaxian Probe to see Tundra, Restore Balance, Ethersworn Canonist, As Foretold.
I draw a Duress to discard Restore Balance.
The opponent casts Ethersworn Canonist.
On my Turn 3, I cast a selection spell, and I find Lim-Dul’s Vault.
I cast Lim-Dul’s Vault on the opponent’s Turn 4 to find Auriok Salvagers.
My Turn 4, I cast Auriok Salvagers, Lotus Petal.
The opponent’s Turn 5, I cast Enlightened Tutor to find Lion’s Eye Diamond.
My turn, I cast Cabal Therapy to check my opponent’s hand (naming Counterspell).
Play Lion’s Eye Diamond, use Auriok Salvagers for infinite mana.
Use Conjurer’s Bauble to draw my entire deck.
Play Engineered Explosives (X=2), activate it to kill Ethersworn Canonist.
Tendrils of Agony for infinite Storm.

(W)

...That was fun.

Before Round 2, I say hello to some people in the store.
They know I haven’t played Doomsday lately, so they’re wondering what I’m playing.
I have no secrets (other than my sideboard) so I tell them I’m playing Doomsday.

Round 2 - Mono Black Reanimator

The opponent is the last person to ask me what deck I’m playing, so he knows.
While he is shuffling, I spot a Duress at the bottom of his deck and I assume Storm.

The opponent plays first.
My hand is Island, Polluted Delta, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Chromatic Sphere, Conjurer’s Bauble, Preordain, Laboratory Maniac.
This hand isn’t great against Storm, but I don’t feel good with a mulligan.

Turn 1 the opponent plays Swamp. I feel relief because he has no blue mana.
Turn 2 he plays another Swamp and casts Collective Brutality, discarding Griselbrand.
...Fuck. Anyway, my Turn 2 I cast Duress.
The opponent’s hand is Swamp, Collective Brutality, Grave Titan, Iona, Shield of Emeria. I discard Collective Brutality.
The next turn, the opponent draws Reanimate, puts Griselbrand into play, draws 8 cards, and uses the Cleanup Step to discard Iona.

(L)

-1 Swamp, 1 Underground Sea, 4 Dark Ritual, Ideas Unbound, 4 Doomsday
+Plains, Tundra, Aether Spellbomb, Nihil Spellbomb, 2 Enlightened Tutor, Ensnaring Bridge, 4 Auriok Salvagers

Game 2, I mulligan to six cards.
My seven card hand is Flooded Strand, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Marsh Flats, Ponder, Preordain, Cabal Therapy.
I keep Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Ponder, Preordain, Brainstorm, Auriok Salvagers. My scry puts Preordain on the top of my library.

This game is very long! My opponent starts the game with Thoughtseize and discards Auriok Salvagers.
He is also able to Reanimate Iona, Shield of Emeria. He names black.
I draw Aether Spellbomb! I return Iona to his hand.
Then I draw Nihil Spellbomb! My opponent can’t Reanimate his big monsters.
However...my life is low. He could have Reanimated my Auriok Salvagers.
I don’t know if he realized it, but I used Duress on his Animate Dead, just in case.
I have a lot of time to draw my combo pieces.
This game ends with Ensnaring Bridge and Nihil Spellbomb in play.

(W)

After this game, my opponent changes his sideboard.
I assume he is adding Tidespout Tyrant for Ensnaring Bridge...
(Because I’m not used to playing Graveyard decks)

-Chromatic Sphere, 1 Ponder
+2 Consign//Oblivion

Game 3, I mulligan to six cards.
My seven card hand has no lands.
I keep Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Enlightened Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Ponder, Cabal Therapy. I don’t remember my scry.

Turn 1 I Enlightened Tutor for Nihil Spellbomb.
My second Enlightened Tutor is an interesting decision.
I drew Auriok Salvagers, so I can get Lion’s Eye Diamond to win the game...
Or I can get Ensnaring Bridge to completely lock out my opponent.
I decide to try to win the game.
The turn before I draw land #4 to cast Auriok Salvagers, my opponent casts Leyline of the Void!
Now I have to find Consign. I don’t find it.
This game is so long that I lose to my opponent casting Grave Titan with 6 Swamps.

(L)

In hindsight, Ensnaring Bridge was the correct choice with Enlightened Tutor.
However, I didn’t expect Leyline.

Round 3 - All Spells (The Spy)

The opponent plays first.
I keep Island, Polluted Delta, Gitaxian Probe, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Doomsday, Tendrils of Agony.

The opponent doesn’t win Turn 1.
On Turn 2, I find Dark Ritual and I cast Doomsday to win the game next turn.
My opponent casts Manamorphose and finds a Balustrade Spy to kill me.

(L)

-1 Swamp, 1 Underground Sea, 4 Dark Ritual, Rain of Filth, Ideas Unbound, Cruel Bargain, 4 Doomsday
+Plains, Tundra, Engineered Explosives, Aether Spellbomb, Nihil Spellbomb, 2 Enlightened Tutor, 4 Auriok Salvagers, 2 Consign//Oblivion

I know that this deck normally transforms into Goblin Charbelcher.
I don’t know if Empty the Warrens is possible, but I brought in Engineered Explosives just in case.

Game 2, I keep Underground Sea, Enlightened Tutor, Gitaxian Probe, Preordain, Duress, Duress, Lim-Dul’s Vault.
Turn 1 I cast Duress. The opponent had Chrome Mox, Chrome Mox, Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual, Goblin Charbelcher, Goblin Charbelcher.
(This is six cards and I don’t know if I missed a card or if the opponent mulliganned.)
I use both of my Duress to discard both Goblin Charbelcher.
On Turn 3 the opponent cast Burning Wish for Empty the Warrens and cast Empty the Warrens.
I respond with Enlightened Tutor and show him Engineered Explosives. He concedes.

(W)

The opponent is a friend of mine, and we talk about the matchup.
We both agree that Balustrade Spy is a better choice for Game 3 because it’s faster.

Game 3, I mulligan to five cards.
My seven card hand has no lands.
My six card hand also has no lands.
I keep Island, Swamp, Underground Sea, Brainstorm, Auriok Salvagers.
My scry puts Consign on the bottom of my library.

The opponent doesn’t win on Turn 1.
Eventually I cast Lim-Dul’s Vault.
My five card pile is Nihil Spellbomb (to stop the combo), Lion’s Eye Diamond, Auriok Salvagers, Gitaxian Probe, and land #4 to cast Salvagers.

(W)

Round 4 - BR Reanimator

The opponent plays first.

My hand is Underground Sea, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Preordain, Brainstorm, Ideas Unbound, Lim-Dul’s Vault.
The opponent Exhumes Grave Titan on Turn 2.
I lose this game because of a big mistake!
On my Turn 2, I cast Brainstorm, and I find Doomsday and Conjurer’s Bauble. I put Doomsday second from the top so I can use Ideas Unbound next turn to draw Doomsday and use Lion’s Eye Diamond mana to cast it.
The mistake was that I didn’t put Ideas Unbound on top of my library.
The opponent casts Thoughtseize. My hand is Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Ideas Unbound, Lim Dul’s Vault, Lim-Dul’s Vault.
He doesn’t understand my deck but Ideas Unbound is the only unique card. I lose.

(L)

I should have played both Lion’s Eye Diamonds and hid my Ideas Unbound to protect myself from Thoughtseize.
BR Reanimator plays no answers to Laboratory Maniac, so Storm is not necessary.

-1 Swamp, 1 Underground Sea, 4 Dark Ritual, Rain of Filth, Ideas Unbound, Cruel Bargain, 4 Doomsday
+Plains, Tundra, Aether Spellbomb, Nihil Spellbomb, 2 Enlightened Tutor, Ensnaring Bridge, 4 Auriok Salvagers, 2 Consign//Oblivion

Game 2, my hand is Swamp, Underground Sea, Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Therapy, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Lim-Dul’s Vault, Tendrils of Agony.
The opponent’s body language displays that he has a Chancellor of the Annex.
Sure enough, he shows me Chancellor of the Annex.

I pay 1 mana and 2 life to cast Gitaxian Probe.
The opponent’s hand is Lotus Petal, Faithless Looting, Animate Dead, Animate Dead, Stronghold Gambit, Unmask, Chancellor of the Annex.
Next turn I use Cabal Therapy to take Stronghold Gambit, and the turn after that I use Lim-Dul’s Vault to get Nihil Spellbomb.
My second Nihil Spellbomb finds Ensnaring Bridge.
However...
The opponent is able to Reanimate twice, so he ends up with Griselbrand in play.
He draws a lot of cards, then plays Sire of Insanity.
Next turn, the opponent uses Stronghold Gambit to put Ashen Rider into play.
I was very surprised that my opponent had an answer to Ensnaring Bridge!

(L)

Round 5 - Slivers

This is the round where things start falling apart.

The opponent plays first.

Game 1, I forgot to take out my sideboard cards. I fix my deck and mulligan to six cards.
I keep Island, Underground Sea, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Chromatic Sphere, Preordain, Lim-Dul’s Vault.
My scry puts Rain of Filth on top of my library.
The opponent also mulligans to six. His scry puts a card on top of his library.

The opponent has no counterspells. I win using Conjurer’s Bauble and LED to cast Doomsday from the top of my library.

(W)

-1 Swamp, 1 Underground Sea, 4 Dark Ritual, Rain of Filth, Ideas Unbound, Cruel Bargain, 4 Doomsday
+Plains, Tundra, Engineered Explosives, Aether Spellbomb, Nihil Spellbomb, 2 Enlightened Tutor, Defense Grid, Ensnaring Bridge, 4 Auriok Salvagers


Game 2, I keep Polluted Delta, Marsh Flats, Lotus Petal, Preordain, Cabal Therapy, Defense Grid, Auriok Salvagers.

I did not draw land for a long time.
My opponent had Force of Will, Surgical Extraction, and Relic of Progenitus.
There were many decisions to make. I lost this game because I don’t have the experience to make the right decisions.
I had Brainstorm, another draw source, and 2 Lion’s Eye Diamond, but I don’t know the right way to beat graveyard hate and Force of Will...
I’m certain there was a way, though.

(L)

Game 3, I keep Polluted Delta, Tundra, Enlightened Tutor, Gitaxian Probe, Preordain, Cabal Therapy, Duress.
Turn 1, I cast Gitaxian Probe and I see Tropical Island, Galerider Sliver, Galerider Sliver, Brainstorm, Sinew Sliver, Predatory Sliver, Hibernation Sliver.
I cast Cabal Therapy and take both Galerider Slivers.
Unfortunately, my opponent’s hand was all creatures and very fast.
Meanwhile, I only spun my wheels. My draw spells only drew more draw spells.

(L)

I was not making good decisions by this point, so I decided to drop and see my friends play.


So, let’s talk about this tournament:

→I played more Bomberman than Doomsday
Every sideboard game, I was Bomberman. This was a mistake, because I want to know if Doomsday is still good.
I changed plans without thinking, so I don’t even know when it is right to remain Doomsday.

→I played against weird decks
There was no Delver or 4C Leovold, so my results don’t show if I am okay against these decks.

→Narrow answers and tutors are great against combo decks
Lim-Dul’s Vault and Enlightened Tutor for Nihil Spellbomb, Engineered Explosives and Ensnaring Bridge was very strong.
Card disadvantage is okay when the card ends the game.

→Auriok Salvagers is 4 mana
I sided out Dark Ritual often, but some games I had problems playing 4 lands. The games were very long, though.

→Bomberman is a graveyard combo
I forgot about this. I lost to graveyard answers because I didn’t think.
(Also, I HATE losing to graveyard answers, so maybe I shouldn’t play Bomberman)

→Mulligans were strange
Playing so many card disadvantage cards was still okay, but I think it makes mulliganning very bad for me.
Luckily, this deck is 1/3 draw sources so I kept almost every hand with lands.
However, I mulliganed many hands because I didn’t have lands. 16 is already a lot of lands, though...

→I never cast Consign
The Bomberman games were long enough that I could have cast Oblivion, but I didn’t have a chance to cast Consign.

I didn’t do well because it’s a new deck and I made mistakes.
Hell, maybe the deck isn’t good. But it was very fun.
I’ll probably try to play a similar deck again next time!

Long time no see.

To be honest, I haven’t been as interested in Magic since Sensei’s Divining Top was banned.
I played Doomsday for six years...losing Top felt like losing my legs.
I’ve tried playing Doomsday after the ban, but it didn’t feel good.
The more and more I played, the more I thought that Sensei’s Divining Top was the only reason Doomsday was playable.

Here’s why:
→Sensei’s Divining Top is a permanent draw source
Doomsday needs a draw source to win the same turn you cast Doomsday. With Top, you could control your draws and still have a way to draw cards after you assemble the combo. Now, it is always a hard decision when you only have one draw spell because you might delay your combo.
Without Top, the deck also doesn’t have easy access to using Burning Wish and 2 LED to win the game.
Finally, without Top the deck doesn’t have so many 0 mana draw sources on the combo turn. It’s much harder to win with only BBB, so the deck is slower.

→Sensei’s Divining Top is a non-blue draw source
Doomsday wins are weak against Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast because you must play Ideas Unbound to win.
Before, Doomsday played Infernal Contract/Cruel Bargain and you could combine it with Top to make piles that play no blue spells.
Now, all the non-blue draw sources are not very strong.

→Sensei’s Divining Top is always correct
This is subtle, but Magic is HARD!
Sensei’s Divining Top is not easy to play, but wasting your mana to activate Top is better than wasting your other draw sources.
Without Top, the deck is harder to play because your decisions have higher consequences, and this causes more mental strain.

Many Doomsday players tried new things to make the deck work.
I have seen some crazy decks...None of them felt very good.

Finally, I talked to another Doomsday player who showed me a deck I like very much.
After a few changes, this is what I decided:

Doomsday-Bomberman

３　Flooded Strand (溢れかえる岸辺)
４　Polluted Delta (汚染された三角州)
１　Marsh Flats (湿地の干潟)
３　Underground Sea
２　Island (島)
２　Swamp (沼)

４　Lion’s Eye Diamond (ライオンの瞳のダイアモンド)
１　Lotus Petal (水蓮の花びら)
３ Conjurer’s Bauble (妖術者のガラクタ)
１　Chromatic Sphere (彩色の宝球)
４　Gitaxian Probe (ギタクシア派の調査)
４　Ponder (思案)
３　Preordain (定業)
４　Brainstorm (渦まく知識)
３　Cabal Therapy (陰謀団式療法)
３　Duress (強迫)
４　Dark Ritual (暗黒の儀式)
１　Rain of Filth (汚物の雨)
１　Ideas Unbound (留まらぬ発想)
２　Lim-Dul’s Vault (リム＝ドゥールの櫃)
１　Laboratory Maniac　(研究室の偏執狂)
１　Cruel Bargain (残酷な取り引き)
４　Doomsday (最後の審判)
１　Tendrils of Agony (苦悶の触手)

Sideboard
１　Tundra
１　Plains (平地)
１　Engineered Explosives (仕組まれた爆薬)
１　Aether Spellbomb (上天の呪文爆薬)
１　Nihil Spellbomb (虚無の呪文爆薬)
２　Enlightened Tutor (悟りの教示者)
１　Defense Grid (防御の光網)
１　Ensnaring Bridge (罠の橋)
４　Auriok Salvagers (オーリオックの廃品回収者)
２　Consign//Oblivion (徙家+忘妻)

This deck is very different than my last one! Let me talk about it.

→19 Draw Sources
Without Top, every draw spell matters.
So many selection spells is really hard to play, though.

→No Red
Burning Wish is still good, but the deck I copied was not a red deck.
With so many selection spells, hopefully we don’t need Burning Wish. Instead...

→Lim-Dul’s Vault
I love this card. It’s not a great card, but I love it.
I like cycling through the deck to make a perfect pile.
However, this card is weak because it is card disadvantage.
Doomsday and Lim-Dul’s Vault (and Enlightened Tutor) might be too many disadvantage cards.

→4 Basic Lands
I like having many basics, but I don’t like Swamp #2.
Non-blue lands are a bad way to start the game, but you *need* BBB to win the game.

→Chromatic Sphere
No Burning Wish means that I won’t have 10 Storm sometimes.
Chromatic Sphere allows me to win with Maniac without worrying about removal.

→Conjurer’s Bauble
This card is the reason I like this deck.
It’s a non-blue draw source, so I can use LED to pay for Doomsday, and I can win without blue spells.
You can also loop 2 Baubles and a 0 card library.

→Cruel Bargain
Without Burning Wish, this deck makes a lot more black mana.
Sometimes it’s easier to make BBBBBB than BBBUU for Ideas Unbound.
Also, sometimes you can win with Tendrils by just drawing cards.

→Marsh Flats
Playing 1 Marsh Flats is because this deck wants basic Swamp more than other versions of the deck.

→16 Land
Without Sensei’s Divining Top, this deck is not as good in longer games so it isn’t so good to draw many lands.

→6 Discard
I normally play 7. I’m not certain 6 is correct.
Doomsday *needs* to know if winning is safe, so 6 discard feels risky.

I was also thinking about playing Lake of the Dead in this deck.
However, I don’t know what I would remove to play Lake of the Dead.

Now...let me talk about this crazy sideboard.

Without Burning Wish, I can use my whole sideboard.
However...without Burning Wish, this deck is very weak to Surgical Extraction and other cards.
I have been too busy to think of a traditional sideboard, but I don’t want to lose to Surgical Extraction.
So, I decided to play an alternate win condition.
The other Doomsday player is playing Painter’s Servant; I didn’t like the idea because Painter and Doomsday have no cards in common.
Thinking about it...since I’m already playing Conjurer’s Bauble (and Chromatic Sphere) and Lion’s Eye Diamond, Auriok Salvagers is a combo.
I can draw my entire deck and win with Tendrils of Agony or Laboratory Maniac.
So, I started with 4 Auriok Salvagers. When the other player heard my plan, he said "You should play Aether and Nihil Spellbombs too."
Thinking more, since this is a three card combo, I wanted to add Enlightened Tutor.
If I play Enlightened Tutor, I may as well play many strong artifacts...right?
Consign//Oblivion was a test. This card is probably not better than Echoing Truth. It depends on if I ever cast Oblivion.

This is the second Tournament Report for this weekend.
You can read the first report here: http://agyekum.diarynote.jp/201704101435007316/

I played an event in Hachinohe.

Dark Depths was good the day before...but Doomsday is my deck.

There were 23 players. Five rounds, then 8 player single elimination.

Of course, this was my deck:

４　Flooded Strand (溢れかえる岸辺)
４　Polluted Delta (汚染された三角州)
１　Misty Rainforest (霧深い雨林)
３　Underground Sea
２　Volcanic Island
２　Island (島)
１　Swamp (沼)

４　Lion’s Eye Diamond (ライオンの瞳のダイアモンド)
１　Lotus Petal (水蓮の花びら)
１　Chromatic Sphere (彩色の宝球)
４　Sensei’s Divining Top (師範の占い独楽)
４　Gitaxian Probe (ギタクシア派の調査)
４　Ponder (思案)
４　Brainstorm (渦まく知識)
３　Cabal Therapy (陰謀団式療法)
４　Duress (強迫)
４　Dark Ritual (暗黒の儀式)
１　Rain of Filth (汚物の雨)
１　Ideas Unbound (留まらぬ発想)
４　Burning Wish (燃え立つ願い)
１　Laboratory Maniac　(研究室の偏執狂)
３　Doomsday (最後の審判)

Sideboard
１　Shelldock Isle (殻船着の島)
２　Tropical Island
１　Void Snare (虚空の罠)
１　Cabal Therapy (陰謀団式療法)
４　Abrupt Decay (突然の衰微)
１　Cruel Bargain (残酷な取り引き)
１　Doomsday (最後の審判)
１　Massacre (虐殺)
１　Tendrils of Agony (苦悶の触手)
１　Empty the Warrens (巣穴からの総出)
１　Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (引き裂かれし永劫、エムラクール)

These 75 cards rarely fail me.

Round 1 - Megrim

I play first.

Game 1, I keep Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Gitaxian Probe, Brainstorm, Duress, Duress.

Turn 1, I cast Duress.
The opponent’s hand is Swamp, Swamp, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Burning Inquiry, Burning Inquiry, Hymn to Tourach.
I discard Hymn to Tourach and I have no idea what my opponent is doing.

The opponent’s Turn 1, he casts Dark Ritual, Megrim...So that’s his plan.
The opponent’s Turn 2, he draws Bloodstained Mire, and casts Burning Inquiry.
I don’t know if it’s correct to respond with Brainstorm, so I don’t cast it.
I discard all of my draw sources, and I take 6 damage. The opponent also discards his second Burning Inquiry.
We both don’t draw good cards for a long time. However, I draw Doomsday before he draws more discard.
He plays Fatal Push, so I make a Maniac Pile with a Duress and Chromatic Sphere, to be safe.

(W)

-1 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Ponder, 1 Cabal Therapy
+Shelldock Isle, Cruel Bargain, Emrakul

My opponent is playing discard so Maniac is great. He is also playing Fatal Push, so I need Chromatic Sphere.
Cruel Bargain is good because he is playing discard (drawing cards is good), and he is playing Red so he may have Red Blasts.
Emrakul is purely my lack of respect--I know my opponent has a good collection, but I doubted my opponent decided to play Wasteland in his "just for fun" deck.
Thinking about it, this is a mistake.
If your opponent has no lands, then they always have cards you can discard for Megrim damage.

Game 2, I mulligan to six cards.

My seven card hand was Flooded Strand, Island, Chromatic Sphere, Gitaxian Probe, Burning Wish, Laboratory Maniac, Doomsday.
I don’t think this hand is good enough against a deck playing nothing but discard spells.
A mulligan is bad against this type of deck, but my deck has better opening hands against discard.
My six card hand is Flooded Strand, Underground Sea, Island, Gitaxian Probe, Duress, Ideas Unbound. I scry Sensei’s Divining Top to the top of my library.
This hand is not good, but it has lands and a discard spell. A mulligan to five is very bad.
I am lucky because my top card was Sensei’s Divining Top, which is the best card in my deck.

My opponent’s Turn 1, he casts nothing.
My Turn 1, I cast Duress.
The opponent’s hand is Bloodstained Mire, Bloodstained Mire, Mountain, Hymn to Tourach, Kolaghan’s Command, Mindbreak Trap.
I discard Hymn to Tourach.

In this game, my opponent casts Liliana’s Caress. I am able to cast Doomsday and make an Emrakul pile to win against Mindbreak Trap.
I also cast Lion’s Eye Diamond and activated it to discard my hand (take 2 damage from Liliana’s Caress) so I would not have cards in hand for my opponent to discard.

(W)

Round 2 - Grixis Delver

My opponent plays first.

Game 1, my hand is Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Underground Sea, Sensei’s Divining Top, Ponder, Duress, Doomsday.

I know the opponent plays Delver. He only plays lands on Turn 1 and Turn 2.
I have 3 lands, so I also only play lands on Turn 1 and Turn 2.
If you don’t have to, don’t let Delver players trade cards with you!
Every land I play makes Daze and Wasteland worse...especially if there are no creatures in play!
My opponent finally casts Young Pyromancer on Turn 3, and then he casts Cabal Therapy.
He names Force of Will because he doesn’t know what I’m playing and maybe he thought a combo deck should play cards on Turn 1 and Turn 2.
He flashes back Cabal Therapy on Doomsday.
Later, the opponent uses Wasteland to destroy his own Volcanic Island to cast Gurmag Angler so he can attack for lethal damage the next turn.
Then he plays a second Wasteland.
I know he has a Spell Pierce in his hand, and he destroyed his only blue mana because he knows I have a Duress in my hand (he thinks either way he can only make me spend 1 mana).
On my turn, I cast Ponder, then shuffle.
Cast another Ponder, shuffle again.
Cast Brainstorm, draw Burning Wish, Dark Ritual, Lion’s Eye Diamond.
I don’t have enough mana for Doomsday, and I don’t have enough Storm for Tendrils (The opponent is still at 20 life!) so I make 18 Goblins.
The opponent never cast a Delver, so I can block his attackers and attack him.

(W)

-1 Gitaxian Probe, Laboratory Maniac
+1 Tropical Island, Cruel Bargain

Game 2, I mulligan to five cards.
My seven card hand and my six card hand have no lands.
My five card hand is Misty Rainforest, Lotus Petal, Sensei’s Divining Top, Sensei’s Divining Top, Dark Ritual.

...The opponent’s Turn 1 is Delver.
Then his Turn 2 is reveal Flusterstorm, transform Delver, cast another Delver.
And his Turn 3 is reveal Daze, transform Delver, cast another Delver.
I am already dead, but I try to cast Duress to see the opponent’s hand. He casts Force of Will.
I cast another spell, and he casts another Force of Will.
I had no chance to win this game even with a 7 card hand.

(L)

Game 3, my hand is Polluted Delta, Swamp, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Gitaxian Probe, Dark Ritual, Doomsday.
This hand can win on Turn 1. I show my opponent my hand and say "Show me Force of Will."
He only has Daze, but he has no lands so I win.

(W)

Round 3 - Lands

The opponent is not happy because his combo matchup is not good.
I assure him, "I lose to Turn 2 Marit Lage all the time, you can win."

The opponent plays first.
I keep Polluted Delta, Chromatic Sphere, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Brainstorm, Rain of Filth, Ideas Unbound.
The opponent’s Turn 1, he casts Exploration, Molten Vortex.
My Turn 1, I cast Gitaxian Probe and see Ghost Quarter, Boseiju, and Dark Depths.
The opponent’s next turn he plays Dark Depths and Ghost Quarter.
My next turn I Brainstorm, and I can win on my next turn.
Suddenly, the opponent says "...Game 2?" I am confused that he is conceding so early...
Then he shows me that he drew Crop Rotation.
I really have terrible luck against Lands, haha.

-Misty Rainforest, Gitaxian Probe, 3 Cabal Therapy, Rain of Filth
+2 Tropical Island, 4 Abrupt Decay

Game 2, the opponent mulligans to six.
I keep Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Tropical Island, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Duress, Abrupt Decay, Laboratory Maniac.
This was a terrible hand to keep.
I overestimated Laboratory Maniac in a deck with Molten Vortex, Punishing Fire, and 20/20 Marit Lage.

Turn 1, I cast Duress.
The opponent has Grove of the Burnwillows, Maze of Ith (Shit!), Taiga, Mox Diamond, Sphere of Resistance, Sylvan Library. I discard Sphere of Resistance.
The opponent’s Turn 1, he casts Mox Diamond discarding Maze of Ith (Yes!) and casts Sylvan Library.
Turn 2, I draw Ideas Unbound and I cast Abrupt Decay on Sylvan Library.
Turn 3, I cast Laboratory Maniac.
Turn 4, I cast Ideas Unbound. The opponent has been unable to do anything, so I discard a second Abrupt Decay.
On his turn, he draws and casts Sphere of Resistance.
The turn after, he finds Gamble, and Gambles for Life from the Loam.
Sphere of Resistance is in play, and among other lands, the opponent has Rishadan Port, Thespian’s Stage copying Rishadan Port, Maze of Ith, and Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale in play.
Rishadan Port prevents me from making red mana, and Sphere is trouble too.
I let Laboratory Maniac die to The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, to give me more mana, and I am not sure this was correct.
Paying for Maniac is the same as paying 1 more mana for a noncreature spell.
Finally I cast Doomsday and end my turn. The opponent finds Dark Depths on his turn.
I do not have enough mana to win in one turn, so I lose to Marit Lage.
Interestingly, if I had Rain of Filth, I would have won.
However, I think it is a bad idea to play Rain of Filth against a deck with so many ways to destroy your lands.

(L)

Round 4 - Merfolk

Every time I have played against this opponent, I have played a different deck. He hasn’t seen Doomsday yet.

The opponent plays first.
I keep Misty Rainforest, Underground Sea, Underground Sea, Duress, Duress, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish.
The opponent’s Turn 1, he casts Aether Vial.
My Turn 1, I cast Duress.
He has Island, Cursecatcher, Silvergill Adept, True-Name Nemesis, Force of Will.
I discard Force of Will.
His deck only plays 4 Force of Will, and 4 Chalice of the Void.
No Chalice? No problem.

(W)

-1 Island, 1 Misty Rainforest, 3 Cabal Therapy, Laboratory Maniac
+2 Tropical Island, 4 Abrupt Decay

I took Laboratory Maniac out because Merfolk can grow very fast--passing the turn is too dangerous.
I am unsure about taking out Cabal Therapy...I thought I could not discard Chalice of the Void on Turn 1, but he can’t cast it for X=1 until Turn 2, and he only plays 4 Force of Will but after sideboard he might play more counterspells.

Game 2, I keep Polluted Delta, Volcanic Island, Brainstorm, Duress, Duress, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish.
The opponent cast Cursecatcher, Chalice of the Void, X=0.
My Turn 1, I cast Duress.
The opponent has Lord of Atlantis, Lord of Atlantis, True-Name Nemesis.
I am able to find all of my combo parts, and I only need to remove Chalice to win. The opponent draws a second Chalice of the Void, and casts it for X=1. I forget to Brainstorm in response, but it doesn’t matter, I can’t win.

(L)

Game 3, I keep Volcanic Island, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Sensei’s Divining Top, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Duress. Abrupt Decay.

My Turn 1, I cast Gitaxian Probe.
The opponent’s hand is Mutavault, Island, Chalice of the Void, Lord of Atlantis, Merrow Reejerey, True-Name Nemesis, Force of Will.
I draw a black land to cast Duress, and I discard Force of Will.
The opponent’s Turn 1, he casts Chalice of the Void, X=0.
None of his other cards are castable, and he has no defense.
I easily have the time to find green mana, destroy Chalice, and combo.

(W)

I tell my opponent after the match that Chalice of the Void at X=1 is way better than X=0.

Round 5 - 4C Stoneblade

Interestingly, I intentionally draw with the same friend I drew with the day before.
We go to 7-Eleven and buy food.

I’m in the Top 8 at 4th place.

Quarterfinals - Sneak Show

This is also the first time my opponent has seen me play Doomsday.
I play first.

Game 1, the opponent mulligans to six.
I keep Underground Sea, Underground Sea, Lotus Petal. Ponder, Brainstorm, Burning Wish, Doomsday.
The opponent casts Show and Tell on Turn 3, and puts Emrakul into play.
I win on my turn after thinking really hard about how to win with Doomsday, Ideas Unbound and Brainstorm in hand.
I took a long time to think of a Doomsday pile, and still had trouble doing it correctly.
I am unhappy about it--in a more serious tournament, I probably lost this game.

(W)

-1 Lion’s Eye Diamond, Chromatic Sphere, 1 Gitaxian Probe
+Shelldock Isle, Cruel Bargain, Emrakul

After Game 1, I ask my opponent if he has seen my deck before.
He says "I understand that it’s a Storm deck."
He will regret those words.

Game 2, the opponent mulligans to six.
I keep Polluted Delta, Underground Sea, Gitaxian Probe, Gitaxian Probe, Brainstorm, Duress, Ideas Unbound.
The opponent starts the game with Leyline of Sanctity in play. That’s all--no land.
I have plenty of time to find Doomsday. I cast Doomsday the turn after he finds land.
He has no answer to Emrakul.
After the game, he shows me his hand has Flusterstorms he could not cast.

(W)

Semifinals - Grixis Delver

I play first.
My opening hand is Flooded Strand, Underground Sea, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Gitaxian Probe, Duress, Burning Wish.
I keep this hand with a plan to make Goblins.
Turn 1, I cast Duress.
The opponent’s hand is Misty Rainforest, Underground Sea, Tropical Island, Ponder, Brainstorm, Daze, Young Pyromancer.
I discard Daze.
Turn 2, I cast Burning Wish. My opponent casts Brainstorm, and Burning Wish resolves.
I get Empty the Warrens.
The opponent casts Young Pyromancer on Turn 2.
Turn 3, I cast Gitaxian Probe. My opponent’s hand is Underground Sea, Ponder, Forked Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt.
8 Goblins will not beat my opponent with Young Pyromancer and so many burn spells, so I cast Brainstorm.
If I find a draw source, I can make more goblins with LED mana. I find Chromatic Sphere and Gitaxian Probe.
Empty the Warrens makes 12 Goblins. (I think this is a mistake, I think I cast 7 spells.)
The opponent’s next turn, he castss Forked Bolt, Ponder, and Brainstorm to kill 2 Goblins and make 3 Elementals.
My turn, I attack. My opponent blocks 3 Goblins with Elementals and takes 7 damage.
His turn, he casts more spells to make Elementals, and a Deathrite Shaman. I think I have lost the game.
My turn, I draw Burning Wish. I have a small chance to win! I attack.
The opponent casts 2 Lightning Bolts to kill 2 Goblins, and then blocks enough Goblins to only take 2 damage. His life total is 7.
Second Main Phase, I pray, and activate my Chromatic Sphere. I draw the land I need.
I cast Burning Wish. My opponent lets it resolve. I get Tendrils of Agony. Storm is 4.

(W)

-1 Gitaxian Probe, Laboratory Maniac
+1 Tropical Island, Cruel Bargain

Game 2, I keep Polluted Delta, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Sensei’s Divining Top, Duress, Dark Ritual, Rain of Filth.

I use Polluted Delta to get Underground Sea and cast Sensei’s Divining Top on my first turn, and it is countered by Force of Will.
Next turn, I draw Brainstorm and cast it. My Top 3 cards include Burning Wish and Sensei’s Divining Top. I plan to cast Burning Wish and Empty the Warrens my next turn. I put Burning Wish on top of my library to hide it from Gitaxian Probe or Cabal Therapy, and I decide not to play my Polluted Delta--If my plan succeds, I will draw Burning Wish so I can’t draw a land next turn, and I want my opponent to let his guard down by thinking I am in trouble with no lands after a Brainstorm.
The opponent’s next turn, he plays Wasteland, destroys my Underground Sea, and casts Surgical Extraction targeting my Underground Sea. This is the worst.
My next turn, I draw Doomsday. I cast Sensei’s Divining Top, and it is countered by Force of Will.
If I draw another draw source, I win. However, I don’t draw another draw source and I lose.

(L)

Game 3, my opponent mulligans to six.

I keep Flooded Strand, Underground Sea, Underground Sea, Ponder, Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish.

The opponent’s Turn 1, he casts Delver. Next turn he transforms Delver with Surgical Extraction and casts Deathrite Shaman.
Laboratory Maniac is not in my deck right now.
Surgical Extraction means I lose if Burning Wish goes to my graveyard.
However, the opponent mulliganned and cast two creatures. I assume his hand isn’t very good.
I have Cabal Therapy for Surgical, but I think it is more important to have Cabal Therapy for later. My opponent has four cards in hand, and one is Surgical Extraction.
I take a risk and I cast Burning Wish. I have Dark Ritual too, so I can beat Daze, Flusterstorm, or Spell Pierce.
My opponent casts Daze. I pay with my last land. The opponent casts Daze again.
Burning Wish is countered, then extracted. I lose.

(L)

I won a Modern Masters pack, and I opened a Liliana of the Veil.

Overall, the deck was good. I made some risky choices that didn’t go well, though.
I didn’t play against Miracles nor Leovold, which was lucky.
I don’t like it, but I think I should be playing maindeck Abrupt Decay.

Also, fuck Surgical Extraction.
I lost to that card 3 times this weekend, haha.

Last weekend, I played a lot of Magic.

The first event was in Shizukuishi. 27 people. Five rounds, then 8 player single elimination.

This was my deck:

4 Verdant Catacombs (新緑の地下墓地)
2 Bayou
1 Blooming Marsh ( 花盛りの湿地)
1 Snow-Covered Swamp (冠雪の沼)
1 Snow-Covered Forest (冠雪の森)
1 Bojuka Bog (ボジューカの沼)
4 Dark Depths (暗黒の深部)
1 Ghost Quarter (幽霊街)
1 Sejiri Steppe (セジーリのステップ)
4 Thespian’s Stage (演劇の舞台)
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (ヨーグモスの墳墓、アーボーグ)

4 Lotus Petal (水蓮の花びら)
3 Expedition Map (探検の地図)
3 Pithing Needle (真髄の針)
4 Duress (強迫)
4 Thoughtseize (思考囲い)
4 Crop Rotation (輪作)
4 Vampire Hexmage (吸血鬼の呪詛術士)
4 Sylvan Scrying (森の占術)
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Not of this World (この世界にあらず)

Sideboard
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All (すべてを護るもの、母聖樹)
1 Karakas (カラカス)
1 Pithing Needle (真髄の針)
4 Rite of Consumption (消耗の儀式)
4 Sylvan Library (森の知恵)
4 Abrupt Decay (突然の衰微)


I decided to play Dark Depths because two weeks ago there were four Chalice of the Void players and two Miracles players at the event in Shizukuishi.
There was only one Death and Taxes player, so there was not much Swords to Plowshares.
In addition...people still don’t understand Dark Depths, which is an advantage.

The sideboard is also different.
Rite of Consumption and Boseiju are to fight Miracles.
Make Marit Lage, keep priority, and throw her at your opponent.

I didn’t keep good notes...After all, this isn’t Doomsday!

Round 1 - Infect

I roll double 1 to lose the dice roll.

Game 1, I lose quickly to combo despite casting Duress.

(L)

Game 2, I make Marit Lage on Turn 2.
The opponent played Inkmoth Nexus on his first turn because he didn’t know my deck was so fast.
He must block with Inkmoth Nexus, and he loses when I use Thespian’s Stage to copy his Wasteland to destroy his second Inkmoth Nexus.

(W)

Game 3, I have 2 Abrupt Decay.
The opponent tries to combo. I cast Abrupt Decay on Blighted Agent, he casts Vines of Vastwood, and I cast Abrupt Decay again.
His combo fails, I make Marit Lage after.

(W)

Round 2 - Eldrazi

I roll double 1 again to lose the dice roll.

Game 1 I make Marit Lage quickly.

(W)

Game 2 I make Marit Lage even more quickly. (Turn 1)

(W)

Round 3 - RUG Delver

My opponent rolls double 6 to win the dice roll. I joke about rolling double 1 again...And I roll double 1 AGAIN.

Game 1, I mulligan to six. My opponent plays 3 Wasteland. I never draw Pithing Needle.

(L)

Game 2, The opponent mulligans to five.
I make a big mistake.
The opponent has Wasteland in play. I have Duress in hand, and I play Dark Depths before I cast Duress.
The opponent responds to Duress on the stack by using Wasteland to destroy Dark Depths, then casts Surgical Extraction to exile all of them.
I can still win this game with Elvish Spirit Guide and Vampire Hexmage attacking, but I am bad at combat so I focus too much on using Bojuka Bog to shrink Nimble Mongoose instead of thinking about double blocking Nimble Mongoose.
The opponent has Stifle and I never draw Duress to prevent him from countering Bojuka Bog.

(L)

Round 4 - Burn

The opponent plays first.

Game 1, I make Marit Lage on Turn 2.

(W)

Game 2, I make Marit Lage on Turn 3.

(W)

Round 5 - True-Name Nemesis BUG

I intentionally draw.

Interestingly, all of the American players are in the Top 8. I make it in at 5th place.

Quarterfinals - True-Name Nemesis BUG

The opponent plays first.

Game 1, I lose to Force of Will on Crop Rotation.

(L)

Game 2, the opponent allows me to draw Vampire Hexmage with Jace, and I am able to punish him for it.

(W)

Game 3, the opponent can’t do anything to stop Marit Lage.

(W)

Semifinals - Eldrazi

The same opponent from the swiss rounds.
He is a little unhappy that the Hachinohe players are all so good (there were 6 of us in the Top 8).
I’m proud! Five years ago, no one played Legacy in Hachinohe.

The opponent plays first.

Game 1, my opponent has Wasteland and I cannot answer it.

Game 2, I can make Marit Lage on Turn 2.
The opponent plays Pithing Needle and names Thespian’s Stage. I use Vampire Hexmage.
His play was a mistake because he also had Wasteland: if he played Turn 1 Wasteland I could not win.

Game 3, I use Abrupt Decay to destroy Endless One, and I use Ghost Quarter to destroy Wasteland.
The opponent has no other creatures so I have a lot of time to win.

Finals - RUG Delver

We split.
Honestly, this matchup is great for me, but:
1) It is late,
2) This is my friend, and
3) My luck was SO bad in the Swiss that I do not want to risk it.

Overall, Dark Depths is...okay.
I didn’t play against anyone using Swords to Plowshares so my matchups were not bad, and my opponents still have no experience against Dark Depths so I was able to punish their mistakes.

I haven’t played Doomsday much recently.
Because I keep getting distracted by other decks, I decided to sell many of my other cards.
I have been testing other cards in Doomsday, but my experience is best with my normal deck.
I played in a tournament in Shizukuishi last weekend.
It has been a while since I took good notes, so I took notes for this event.
The event was 21 players. Five rounds, then 8 player single elimination.
This is what I played:

４　Flooded Strand (溢れかえる岸辺)
４　Polluted Delta (汚染された三角州)
１　Misty Rainforest (霧深い雨林)
３　Underground Sea
２　Volcanic Island
２　Island (島)
１　Swamp (沼)

４　Lion’s Eye Diamond (ライオンの瞳のダイアモンド)
１　Lotus Petal (水蓮の花びら)
１　Chromatic Sphere (彩色の宝球)
４　Sensei’s Divining Top (師範の占い独楽)
４　Gitaxian Probe (ギタクシア派の調査)
４　Ponder (思案)
４　Brainstorm (渦まく知識)
３　Cabal Therapy (陰謀団式療法)
４　Duress (強迫)
４　Dark Ritual (暗黒の儀式)
１　Rain of Filth (汚物の雨)
１　Ideas Unbound (留まらぬ発想)
４　Burning Wish (燃え立つ願い)
１　Laboratory Maniac　(研究室の偏執狂)
３　Doomsday (最後の審判)

Sideboard
１　Shelldock Isle (殻船着の島)
２　Tropical Island
１　Void Snare (虚空の罠)
１　Cabal Therapy (陰謀団式療法)
４　Abrupt Decay (突然の衰微)
１　Cruel Bargain (残酷な取り引き)
１　Doomsday (最後の審判)
１　Massacre (虐殺)
１　Tendrils of Agony (苦悶の触手)
１　Empty the Warrens (巣穴からの総出)
１　Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (引き裂かれし永劫、エムラクール)

Last time I played Doomsday, I tried to play without Burning Wish.
I don’t know what to do when I draw Tendrils of Agony, and I lost games because I played less win cards.
I decided to play what I know best.

Round 1 - Bye

"Bye-san" isn’t a very good player and he has never won a match.

(W)

I use the free time to scout.
I am a bit uneasy because there are 3 Eldrazi players, 1 MUD player, and 2 Miracles players.
(W)

For the rest of this event, I know exactly what my opponents are playing.

Round 2 - Elves

Game 1, My opponent wins the die roll.
I mulligan.
My first hand has no lands.
My six card hand is Underground Sea, Underground Sea, Polluted Delta, Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish.
I scry Underground Sea to the bottom of my library.

This game was not difficult.
I cast blind Cabal Therapy for Natural Order.
He has no threats, and I have the time to find the cards for the combo.
One interesting thing is this: when my opponent discards Natural Order, he also has a Deranged Hermit in his hand.

(W)

-2 Island, -2 Duress, Laboratory Maniac
+2 Tropical Island, 3 Abrupt Decay

I’m unsure about how to sideboard against Elves.
Discard and Abrupt Decay are bad depending on the situation.
You can lose easily to having the wrong card.

Game 2, I keep Swamp, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Ponder, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual.

My opponent starts off quickly, getting 2 Nettle Sentinel and a Heritgae Druid into play.
My first turns are good, because I draw a Brainstorm into all the cards to combo, and a Duress.
I cast Duress and I have an interesting decision.
My opponent’s hand is Mindbreak Trap and Natural Order.
I have the cards to win next turn, but the opponent has the mana for Natural Order.
Which one do you take?
I considered taking the Trap. My opponent can’t win with Natural Order next turn, and Mindbreak Trap made me think "He has no anti-combo creature."
However, Deranged Hermit from last game makes me think "His deck is not normal. He could play anything."
In addition, I know some Elf players are playing Leovold..That settles it.
I take the Natural Order and hope to draw another discard spell before I lose to damage.
When I am at 5 life, I must use my Burning Wish to stay alive. I fetch, Massacre and cast it with Dark Ritual.
My opponent has been playing out his creatures to increase his clock and untap his Nettle Sentinels so he has nothing except Mindbreak Trap.
Later, I cast Ideas Unbound to draw 3, then Brainstorm digs for Burning Wish and a Cabal Therapy to discard Mindbreak Trap.

(W)

I ask my opponent about Natural Order after the game
He was playing Ruric Thar so my choice was correct.
Also, he plays 3 Mindbreak Trap in his sideboard and I don’t understand why.
Storm is very rare here and Elves are okay against Storm.

Round 3 - Eldrazi

I lose the die roll.

Game 1, my opponent mulligans to six.
He scrys his card to the bottom.
I keep Island, Lotus Petal, Sensei’s Divining Top, Gitaxian Probe, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual.

My opponent starts the game with no Chalice.
I draw a Ponder, and cast it. He counters it with Warping Wail.
Other than that he has nothing good, and I win with Doomsday.
One interesting thing: my opponent played Wasteland, but I only played basics this game.

(W)

-1 Island, Misty Rainforest, 1 Lion’s Eye Diamond, Ponder, Chromatic Sphere, 2 Cabal Therapy, 1 Rain of Filth
+Shelldock Isle, 2 Tropical Island, 4 Abrupt Decay, Emrakul

Game 2, I mulligan twice.
My first hand had no lands.
My six card hand is Volcanic Island, Flooded Strand, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish, Laboratory Maniac. Do you keep this hand?
My five card hand is Tropical Island, Flooded Strand, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Duress.
I scry Flooded Strand to the bottom.

My opponent plays Turn 1 Thorn of Amethyst.
This game is over. I continue to play to see if he will show me more.
I only play basic lands, to make my opponent think that there is no reason to keep Wastelands untapped.

(L)

I decide that my best chance in Game 3 against Chalice of the Void, Warping Wail, and Thorn of Amethyst is to commit to casting Doomsday ASAP.

-4 Burning Wish
+LED, Ponder, Doomsday, Tendrils of Agony

Game 3, I keep Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Flooded Strand, Flooded Strand, Duress, Doomsday, Tendrils of Agony.

I cast Turn 1 Duress.
My opponent’s hand is Cavern of Souls, Karakas, Chalice of the Void, Endless One, Endless One, Eldrazi Mimic, Matter Reshaper.
I take Chalice of the Void and curse at the Karakas. I can still win with Laboratory Maniac, though.
My opponent draws Thorn of Amethyst, and despite my best efforts there is nothing else I can do this game.

(L)

Round 4 - URW Mentor

I’ve played agains this opponent in the past. He’s playing Mentor with no Counterbalances and no Miracles.

I win the die roll.

Game 1, I keep Polluted Delta, Polluted Delta, Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Therapy, Duress, Dark Ritual, Rain of Filth.
In hindsight, I think this was a bad keep. I should have mulliganed.
I cast Turn 1 Duress.
My opponent’s hand is Flooded Strand, Path to Exile, Ponder, Ponder, Lightning Bolt, Dack Fayden, and Jace the Mind Sculptor.
I take Dack Fayden because anti-creature cards are bad, and I don’t want Dack to make his hand good.
Later I Brainstorm into Burning Wish and LED.
I cast Gitaxian Probe.
My opponent’s hand is Path to Exile, Path to Exile, Brainstorm, Lightning Bolt, Jace the Mind Sculptor, Force of Will.
I use Cabal Therapy to make him cast Brainstorm, I name the Force of Will he hides, and I make 16 Goblins (he helps with a meaningless Daze).
I also flashback Cabal Therapy on Jace so he can’t try to Jace into an answer. In hindsight, I should have named Lightning Bolt.
He had two Lightning Bolt in hand, If I had thought about his Brainstorm, I would know his top 2 cards are Force of Will and Path to Exile.
Even if I didn’t know, he returned a land with Daze so he couldn’t cast Jace next turn.

(W)

-1 Island, Misty Rainforest, 1 LED, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Cabal Therapy
+2 Tropical Island, 2 Abrupt Decay, Cruel Bargain

Game 2, I mulligan.
My first hand is Island, LED, Duress, Dark Ritual, Ideas Unbound, Burning Wish, Doomsday. Do you keep this hand?
My six card hand is Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Sensei’s Divining Top, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Burning Wish.
I scry Polluted Delta to the bottom.

Blood Moon is the only resistance my opponent has this game.
I already have Swamp in hand. Even if I didn’t, I have Polluted Delta available.
Blood Moon is irrelevant. I don’t even use my fetchland to find Island.
Tap both of my fetchlands to cast Burning Wish, play Swamp, Dark Ritual, Doomsday.

(W)

Burning Wish has been important for many of my games.

Round 5 - Maverick

My opponent wants to draw into Top 8.
I think I should make him play. Maverick is weak against me.
Furthermore, I know Eldrazi and Miracles will be in the single elimination rounds.
Playing first could help me win against those decks.
I don’t want to risk losing though, so I draw.
What would you have done?

(ID)

I’m in the Top 8 at 4th place. 5th place is one of the players I came to the event with. In fact, four out of the five people from our car are in the Top 8.

Quarterfinals - Atraxa Nakanaka Stoneblade

This deck is wild.
However, his deck is not very good against combo.
If our next opponents would have been Miracles or Eldrazi, I would have conceded to my friend.
The next opponents are Death and Taxes or Lands, so we play.

I’m the higher seed, I choose to play first.

Game 1, I mulligan.
My first hand is Underground Sea, Flooded Strand, Duress, Duress, Burning Wish, Burning Wish, Burning Wish. Do you keep this hand?
My six card hand is Underground Sea, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Ponder, Duress, Laboratory Maniac.
I scry Sensei’s Divining Top to the Top.
I cast Turn 1 Duress.
My opponent’s hand is Flooded Strand, Deathrite Shaman, Deathrite Shaman, Baleful Strix, Baleful Strix, Baleful Strix, Force of Will.
I take Force of Will.
My next turn, I cast Ponder and see Cabal Therapy, Burning Wish, and Doomsday. I keep them all on top because I am very greedy.
Next turn, I Cabal Therapy away all of my opponent’s Baleful Strix, but I can’t draw a land for multiple turns.
When I finally I draw my second land for the combo, I’m at 9 life against an opponent with 2 active Deathrite Shaman in play.
Losing half of my life to Doomsday puts me at 4 and I would die immediately.

(L)

I think I made a mistake with the Ponder and I really should have just shuffled to look for land. What do you think?
My opponent mulliganed so I thought taking two of his cards would be good. I even took three because he didn’t play any Strix.
Since I already had 2 Lion’s Eye Diamond and Sensei’s Divining Top with Burning Wish in my Ponder pile, I just needed a red mana source to win.
My opponent draws Stoneforge Mystic and finds Sword of Fire and Ice.
I can use Burning Wish for Massacre, but it cannot kill a 3/4 Stoneforge Mystic.

-1 Island, Misty Rainforest, 1 LED, 1 Ponder, 1 Cabal Therapy
+2 Tropical Island, 3 Abrupt Decay

I note that my opponent seems to be putting a stack of cards in against me.

Game 2, my opponent mulligans.
He scrys his card to the bottom.
I keep Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Lotus Petal, Brainstorm, Cabal Therapy, Duress, Abrupt Decay.

I cast Turn 1 Duress.
My opponent’s hand is Flooded Strand, Flooded Strand, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Meddling Mage, Force of Will.
I take Force of Will.
I believe I lost this game because I am too cautious.
Because my opponent has Brainstorm, I don’t cast Cabal Therapy for multiple turns.
Since I didn’t force him to use his Brainstorms to hide his Meddling Mage (and I already had Abrupt Decay), I gave him the opportunity to improve his hand.
He eventually found Vendillion Clique. I have to cast Abrupt Decay on it.
He removes my Rain of Filth, so I don’t have enough black mana.
Therefore I can’t do anything for long enough that Meddling Mage kills me.
It didn’t even name an important card (LED), but being a 2/2 was enough.

(L)

After the game my opponent shows me that he actually put 12 cards from his sideboard in against me.

On the bright side, this opponent won the whole event.

Other than my sorry losses, I felt good about the tournament. My discipline is lacking, though. I was lucky enough to dodge most of my bad matchups, and I still don’t think I’ve ever seen a Leovold played against me (I’m very lucky).

Happy New Year!

Sorry for the absence. I haven’t played Doomsday since GP Chiba.
By the way, how was my GP Report? Should I continue writing in Japanese?

For now, I’ll write in English.

I haven’t played Doomsday for a while...But I have been practicing.
Recently I have been practicing winning without Ideas Unbound. This way to win is very fast, if you recognize it.
I have played Doomsday for 6 years without using this. I don’t want to think about the games I lost because I didn’t know!

Last weekend I played in a small event in Hachinohe.
There were six players. This small event is a good day to refresh my Doomsday skills.


Round 1 - Slivers

Game 1, I play first.
My opponent and I both mulligan to six.
My seven card hand was Sensei’s Divining Top, Sensei’s Divining Top, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Brainstorm, Duress, Burning Wish. (No lands).
I keep Polluted Delta, LED, Chromatic Sphere, Ponder, Duress, Burning Wish. Scry Burning Wish to the bottom of my library.

I cast Duress on Turn 1. My opponent has Cavern of Souls, Flooded Strand, Swords to Plowshares, Galerider Sliver, Hibernation Sliver, Collected Company.
I take Collected Company, but my opponent didn’t play 4 lands this game.
Burning Wish + 2 LED + Top wins this game.
I forgot about Swords to Plowshares so my opponent could gain life, but I was lucky--my opponent needed to activate a fetchland to use Swords to Plowshares, so couldn’t gain enough life to survive.

(W)

-2 Island, 3 Cabal Therapy
+2 Tropical Island, 3 Abrupt Decay

I know my opponent normally plays Ethersworn Canonist and Unsubstantiate as his combo hate.

Game 2, I mulligan to six.
My seven card hand was Island, Polluted Delta, Gitaxian Probe, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Ideas Unbound, Abrupt Decay.
I keep Volcanic Island, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Rain of Filth, Burning Wish, Burning Wish.
Scry Underground Sea to the top of my library.

My opponent accidentally shows me a Sanctum Prelate when he shuffles his deck on Turn 1.
I assemble the combo, and I Cabal Therapy for counters. He has none, so he loses.

(W)

After the game, my opponent tells me he removed Force of Will from his deck.
Is combo that rare in Hachinohe?

Round 2 - Counterbalance Twin

Game 1, I play first.
I keep Polluted Delta, Lotus Petal, LED, LED, Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Therapy, Burning Wish.
Turn 1 I cast Gitaxian Probe and see Mountain, Polluted Delta, Volcanic Island, Counterbalance, Deceiver Exarch, Jace the Mindsculptor, Splinter Twin. I make 12 Goblins with Empty the Warrens, then I flashback Cabal Therapy for Exarch.

(W)

-1 Island, 1 LED, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Ponder, 2 Cabal Therapy, Laboratory Maniac.
+2 Tropical Island, 4 Abrupt Decay, Cruel Bargain

I don’t know my opponent’s deck, but Abrupt Decay destroys Counterbalance and Deceiver Exarch.

Game 2, I keep Polluted Delta, Tropical Island, Sensei’s Divining Top, Duress, Duress, Dark Ritual, Doomsday.

My first Duress reveals Sensei’s Divining Top, Ponder, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Ratchet Bomb, Force of Will. I take Force of Will.
The end of this game is very interesting!
My opponent has Sensei’s Divining Top and four lands (one fetchland).
I cast Gitaxian Probe with a Cabal Therapy in my hand. He has Deceiver Exarch, Surgical Extraction, and Ratchet Bomb in hand.
I take my opponent’s Exacrch because it’s his only blue card (with a fetchland, he can see six cards to search for Force of Will).
I also don’t want him to cast Exarch and tap my Sensei’s Divining Top in response to Doomsday.
Ideas Unbound is already in my hand, and Rain of Filth makes a lot of mana so I can use Sensei’s Divining Top.
Because of this, I was able to win even though my opponent shuffled my library with Surgical Extraction.

(W)

Round 3 - Food Chain

I watched my opponent’s game earlier. He was playing Deathrite Shaman and Carpet of Flowers, so I assumed he was playing Aluren.
My opponent asked the person next to him what I’m playing. Is my opponent new in Hachinohe? I’m surprised he doesn’t know.


Game 1, I play first.
I keep Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Brainstorm, Duress, Dark Ritual.
I cast Duress to see Bayou, Tropical Island, Abrupt Decay, Abrupt Decay, Leovold, Gurmag Angler, and Force of Will.
I take Force of Will.

Opponent: Oh, you’re playing combo?"
Me: I *only* play combo.

I spend my 3rd turn casting a Burning Wish for Cabal Therapy to discard Leovold.
If I wait a turn I have the extra card to win with Brainstorm, but my opponent still has Abrupt Decay for my LEDs.
However, he doesn’t know that, so He taps out to play Misthollow Griffin, and dies instantly.
This is the first Brainstorm win I’ve ever performed in an real game.
Because my opponent tapped his mana, I was worried that he drew Force of Will
The moment I cast Doomsday, he started looking through his sideboard. Game Over.
(Never give up. If he pretended he could stop me, I might make a mistake!)

Me: Nice to meet you, I play Doomsday.

(W)

-2 Island, 1 LED, Chromatic Sphere, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Ponder, Rain of Filth, Laboratory Maniac
+Shelldock Isle, 2 Tropical Island, 4 Abrupt Decay. Emrakul the Aeons Torn

My opponent plays Leovold, and no Wasteland.
Emrakul is my best option.

Game 2, my opponent mulligans to six.
I keep Tropical Island, Polluted Delta, Lotus Petal, LED, LED, Sensei’s Divining Top, Brainstorm.
My opponent plays Turn 2 Null Rod.
I lock myself out of the game with my Brainstorm, and end this game with 6 lands in play.
My opponent ends this game with only 4 Deathrite Shaman in play as a clock.
I am killed by Deathrite combat damage; it was embarassing.

(L)

Game 3, my opponent mulligans to four(!!!)
I keep Polluted Delta, Polluted Delta, Lotus Petal, Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual, Ideas Unbound.
I feel bad for my opponent, because Cabal Therapy is going to make him mulligan him to 3.
On Turn 1 I cast Gitaxian Probe and see Verdant Catacombs, Cabal Therapy, Brainstorm, Misthollow Griffin.
I throw down my Cabal Therapy and say Brainstorm as soon as I see his hand...then I draw for my Probe, and it’s a Doomsday.
I twist the knife by casting Doomsday and making an Emrakul pile. He looks through my deck, sees 4 Burning Wishes in exile, and spends about a minute trying to think of what to name with his Cabal Therapy.
He doesn’t know it’s meaningless.
In two turns he is eating spaghetti.

(W)

I only lost one game, so I feel good. My knowledge is growing.
Next month, we are playing Legacy for a Volcanic Island?
I plan to take Doomsday, but I might lend a friend cards...
If I do, I will have to play a different deck.

The Grand Prix draws closer...
And I haven’t played Doomsday seriously for about a month.
I played Dark Depths at every Grand Prix Trial, but I don’t need Dark Depths practice!

Yesterday, I played in a tournament in Hachinohe.
I don’t have a detailed tournament report this time, because I wanted to focus on playing.
However, the results were unacceptable.

1-2 Lands
2-1 Elves
1-2 Soldier Stompy
0-2 WUR Delver
2-1 Boseiju-Tell

I made many unacceptable mistakes:

Against Elves, I lost Game 2 because I forgot to return my 4th Doomsday to my sideboard after Game 1. My opponent mulliganned to 5 and still won this game.

Against WUR Delver, I lost Game 2 to the worse sequence of mistakes I ever remember making.
I cast Duress to check for counters. My opponent has no good counters, and I take a random card (instead of an important card).
Then, I cast Brainstorm to win the game, but I returned my cards in the wrong order.
After that I activated 2 LED to cast Doomsday from the top of my library (I only needed to activate 1), and I drew Duress instead of Doomsday.
I deserved to lose.

Against Show and Tell, I almost lost Game 1 because I didn’t keep track of life correctly, so I missed a possible natural Tendrils kill.
In Game 3, I cast Doomsday, with Shelldock Isle in hand, and I knew my opponent had Show and Tell on top of his deck.
I made a weird pile putting Laboratory Maniac under Shelldock Isle and allowing me to recast Doomsday, replay Shelldock Isle, and put Emrakul in it.
However...Cast Emrakul beats Show and Tell Emrakul, and my plan could never beat Show and Tell Omniscience.

以上の様々のミスのせいで、自信が揺らいだ。
グランプリの二日目に残るため、急に改善が必要。練習しなきゃ。
運良く本線の前日にサイドイベントがたくさんあるので何回も参加するつもり。
グランプリ千葉に参加する黒人は多分私しかいないから、見つけやすい。声をかけて。

This weekend, I went to a tournament in Shizukuishi.
I am practicing for GP Chiba, so I played Doomsday.
I have two byes for the GP, so 4-3 continues to Day 2!
My goal was to have 4 wins at this event.

I played my usual 75:

４　Flooded Strand (溢れかえる岸辺)
４　Polluted Delta (汚染された三角州)
１　Misty Rainforest (霧深い雨林)
３　Underground Sea
２　Volcanic Island
２　Island (島)
１　Swamp (沼)

４　Lion’s Eye Diamond (ライオンの瞳のダイアモンド)
１　Lotus Petal (水蓮の花びら)
１　Chromatic Sphere (彩色の宝球)
４　Sensei’s Divining Top (師範の占い独楽)
４　Gitaxian Probe (ギタクシア派の調査)
４　Ponder (思案)
４　Brainstorm (渦まく知識)
３　Cabal Therapy (陰謀団式療法)
４　Duress (強迫)
４　Dark Ritual (暗黒の儀式)
１　Rain of Filth (汚物の雨)
１　Ideas Unbound (留まらぬ発想)
４　Burning Wish (燃え立つ願い)
１　Laboratory Maniac　(研究室の偏執狂)
３　Doomsday (最後の審判)

Sideboard
１　Shelldock Isle (殻船着の島)
２　Tropical Island
１　Void Snare (虚空の罠)
１　Cabal Therapy (陰謀団式療法)
４　Abrupt Decay (突然の衰微)
１　Cruel Bargain (残酷な取り引き)
１　Doomsday (最後の審判)
１　Massacre (虐殺)
１　Tendrils of Agony (苦悶の触手)
１　Empty the Warrens (巣穴からの総出)
１　Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (引き裂かれし永劫、エムラクール)

The event had 44 players.
It was the biggest event I have been to up here!

Round 1 - Narita-Tell
44 players, and my first opponent is a friend. Damn.

I play first.

Game 1, my opening hand is Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Island, LED, Chromatic Sphere, Sensei’s Divining Top, Ponder.

My opponent plays Turn 2 Burning Wish to find Show and Tell.
I can’t stop Show and Tell, so I try to combo.
The opponent knows my deck well, and has been working on developing a poker face.
When I start casting LEDs, I know something is strange.
However, Doomsday resolves.
I create a Laboratory Maniac Pile so I don’t automatically lose to a counterspell on Ideas Unbound.
Ideas Unbound resolves. When I cast Gitaxian Probe, I see my opponent has been holding Force of Will. I lose.

(L)

I made a mistake here.
I assumed my opponent would counter Doomsday or wait to counter Ideas Unbound.
He had the patience to wait until my last spell, which I didn’t expect.
I also had so much mana that I could have put Duress in my Doomsday pile to prevent this.

-Chromatic Sphere, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Cabal Therapy
+Shelldock Isle, Cruel Bargain, Emrakul

Game 2, I keep Flooded Strand, Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, LED, LED, Ponder, Duress.

My opponent starts with Leyline of Sanctity in play. Duress is useless.

Ponder finds two Sensei’s Divining Tops, and my opponent counters both of them with Force of Will.
I cast Laboratory Maniac on Turn 4.
My opponent responds by casting Burning Wish for Pyroclasm.
Then, I cast Empty the Warrens for 12 Goblins and win with damage.

Note: I didn’t think about Pyroclasm.
If my opponent didn’t cast it on Laboratory Maniac, I would have lost my tokens.

(W)

Game 3, I mulligan to six.

My seven card hand is Sensei’s Divining Top, Sensei’s Divining Top, Sensei’s Divining Top, Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Therapy, Duress, Doomsday.

I keep Misty Rainforest, Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Rain of Filth, Ideas Unbound. Scry Duress to the bottom of my library.

My Cabal Therapy misses. In hindsight, I should have named Sneak Attack.
My best chance of winning was to draw Emrakul and force my opponent to cast Show and Tell.
My hand was horrible, so I lost quickly.

(L)

I can’t keep making mistakes like this if I want to make Day 2 of the GP...

Round 2 - Merfolk

Speaking of mistakes I can’t keep making...
When writing my decklist, I forgot a card. I get a game loss.

(L)

However, my opponent also got a game loss!

(W)

Our first game is Game 3. I play first.

I keep Polluted Delta, Underground Sea, Ponder, Brainstorm, Ideas Unbound, Burning Wish, Burning Wish.

My opponent mulligans to five.

I cast Burning Wish for Cabal Therapy, name Force of Will and this game is over.

(W)

Round 3 - Burn

I know what my opponent is playing, I saw her last round.

Game 1, I mulligan to five.

My seven card hand was Flooded Strand, Volcanic Island, Sensei’s Divining Top, Sensei’s Divining Top, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Duress.

My six card hand was LED, Lotus Petal, Sensei’s Divining Top, Sensei’s Divining Top, Ponder, Ideas Unbound.

I keep Volcanic Island, LED, Ponder, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish. I scry Volcanic Island to the top of my library.

This is a great hand. I can win if I find a black land.
My opponent starts with Goblin Guide and I draw my second Volcanic Island.
However, I don’t find a black land in time.

(L)

-Misty Rainforest, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 2 Duress, Laboratory Maniac
+1 Tropical Island, Void Snare, 2 Abrupt Decay, Cruel Bargain

Game 2, I keep Polluted Delta, Island, LED, Chromatic Sphere, Ponder, Brainstorm, Cruel Bargain.

Brainstorm finds the cards to win on Turn 3.
However, my opponent casts Eidolon of the Great Revel on Turn 2.
I can’t find an answer, so I lose.

(L)

Round 4 - Storm
I’m playing against another friend.

I draw first.

Game 1, I mulligan to six.

My seven card hand was Polluted Delta, Volcanic Island, Island, LED, LED, Gitaxian Probe, Brainstorm.
I mulligan this because I am drawing first.
It is too weak to fast combo and discard.

I keep Flooded Strand, Misty Rainforest, Sensei’s Divining Top, Sensei’s Divining Top, Gitaxian Probe, Brainstorm. I scry Burning Wish to the top of my library.

My first play is irrelevant, I lose on Turn 2.

(L)

-1 Gitaxian Probe
+1 Cruel Bargain

Game 2, I keep Polluted Delta, Island, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Duress, Duress, Duress.

I cast all of my Duress. Doomsday is better than Past in Flames this early in the game.

(W)

Game 3, I mulligan to six.

My seven card hand was Sensei’s Divining Top, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Cabal Therapy.

I keep Polluted Delta, Underground Sea, Sensei’s Divining Top, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Doomsday. I scry Doomsday to the top of my library.

This hand is a Turn 2 kill if I find any cantrip.
My opponent casts Gitaxian Probe and sees I am close to combo.
He casts Dark Ritual, Duress for Doomsday, Sensei’s Divining Top, and activates Sensei’s Divining Top.
My next turn, I draw Doomsday, cast Sensei’s Divining Top.
My opponent does nothing for a few turns.
I spend a few turns looking for a cantrip to win.
My opponent finally casts Cabal Therapy for Dark Rituals.
When he cast Cabal Therapy, I realize I made a huge mistake.
I have Cruel Bargain in my deck.
With 2 Dark Ritual and Sensei’s Divining Top, this was a Turn 2 combo!

I still win this game, but only because my opponent makes a mistake on his combo turn.

(W)

I really must practice more to eliminate these mistakes.

Round 5 - Burn

I play first.

I keep Polluted Delta, Volcanic Island, Swamp, Sensei’s Divining Top, Dark Ritual, Duress, Doomsday.

When I cast Duress, I see Barbarian Ring, Wooded Foothills, Mountain, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Rift Bolt, Fireblast. I take Fireblast.
I have a Turn 3 Combo.
My opponent doesn’t play Eidolon of the Great Revel, so I win.

(W)

-Misty Rainforest, 4 Duress, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Laboratory Maniac
+1 Tropical Island, Cabal Therapy, 4 Abrupt Decay, Cruel Bargain

Game 2, I keep Underground Sea, LED, Sensei’s Divining Top, Ponder, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, Cabal Therapy.

My opponent casts Turn 1 Goblin Guide.
I cast Turn 1 Cabal Therapy naming Eidolon of the Great Revel.
I see Bloodstained Mire, Mountain, Lightning Bolt, Smash to Smithereens, Rift Bolt.
On Turn 3 my opponent puts me to 1 life.
Doomsday pays half of your life rounded up, so I am unable to win.

(L)

Game 3, I keep Flooded Strand, Swamp, Ponder, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Abrupt Decay.

I draw Cruel Bargain and Doomsday.
My opponent taps all of his mana, and I pray he doesn’t have a Fireblast in hand. There is no Fireblast, I win.

(W)

If my opponent didn’t tap all his mana, I would have lost.

Round 6 - Death and Taxes

I play first.

I mulligan to five.

My seven card hand is Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Misty Rainforest, Volcanic Island, Volcanic Island, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder.

My six card hand is Island, Volcanic Island, Volcanic Island, LED, Duress, Laboratory Maniac.

I keep Flooded Strand, Underground Sea, LED, LED, Chromatic Sphere. I scry Lotus Petal to the bottom of my library.

This hand can win quickly if I find a Burning Wish.
Turn 1, I play Underground Sea, Chromatic Sphere.
My opponent plays Rishadan Port.
Turn 2, I draw Gitaxian Probe.
I cast Probe, and I see Eiganjo Castle, Rishadan Port, Phyrexian Revoker, Phyrexian Revoker, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Serra Avenger, Wispmare.
I draw Brainstorm. I cast Brainstorm and pray for Burning Wish.
My opponent starts to keep track of Storm and cries about dying.
I don’t find Burning Wish. I die to Spirit of the Labyrinth.

(L)

My opponent is confused and doesn’t know if I am ANT or Show and Tell.

-Misty Rainforest, Chromatic Sphere, 4 Duress, Laboratory Maniac
+2 Tropical Island, Void Snare, 4 Abrupt Decay

Game 2, I keep Volcanic Island, Tropical Island, Island, LED, Sensei’s Divining Top, Brainstorm, Burning Wish.

My opponent mulligans to six. He also cries about his bad hand. No poker face at all.

My opponent casts three Aether Vials this game.
He played Aether Vial #3 instead of Spirit of the Labyrinth.
On my combo turn, I cast Void Snare to return an Aether Vial with 2 counters on it.
He doesn’t put Spirit of the Labyrinth into play.
I say "ANT or Show and Tell, which one is it?"
He answers "Yeah, which one is it?"
I say "NEITHER. Dark Ritual, Doomsday."

(W)

Game 3, I keep Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Volcanic Island, LED, Gitaxian Probe, Brainstorm, Doomsday.

My opponent plays Turn 1 Plains, Aether Vial.
I cast Gitaxian Probe to see my opponent has Rishadan Port, Rishadan Port, Aether Vial, Phyrexian Revoker, Recruiter of the Guard. I draw LED.
In the next few turns, My opponent finds an Ethersworn Canonist.
I draw a Burning Wish, which I use to find Massacre.
My next turn, I find Sensei’s Divining Top. I cast it.
I cast Massacre. Then, I cast Brainstorm. If I find a draw source, I can put Doomsday on top of my library and cast it with LED mana, and still have Sensei’s Divining Top for my combo.
I find Ponder.

(W)

If my opponent had used his Rishadan Port on my combo turn, I would not have won so quickly.

Overall, I went 4-2 and finished in 4th place.
If this were the GP, I would have met my goal.
However...I made many mistakes.
Also, I only won three games because of opponent’s mistakes.
I must work harder!

Last weekend, I went to a Grand Prix Trial in Shizukuishi.
This time, I played a new deck!

Chalice of the Void is usually very popular in my metagame.
Chalice is difficult for Doomsday to defeat.
I searched for a deck that isn’t weak against Chalice.
But...I am very bad at combat math, so using normal creatures is a bad idea.
Finally, I found Dark Depths.

This was my deck.
4 Verdant Catacombs (新緑の地下墓地)
3 Bayou
1 Snow-Covered Swamp (冠雪の沼)
1 Snow-Covered Forest (冠雪の森)
1 Bojuka Bog (ボジューカの沼)
4 Dark Depths (暗黒の深部)
1 Ghost Quarter (幽霊街)
1 Sejiri Steppe (セジーリのステップ)
4 Thespian’s Stage (演劇の舞台)
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (ヨーグモスの墳墓、アーボーグ)

4 Lotus Petal (水蓮の花びら)
3 Expedition Map (探検の地図)
3 Pithing Needle (真髄の針)
2 Duress (強迫)
2 Inquisition of Kozilek (コジレックの審問)
4 Thoughtseize (思考囲い)
4 Crop Rotation (輪作)
4 Vampire Hexmage (吸血鬼の呪詛術士)
4 Sylvan Scrying (森の占術)
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Not of this World (この世界にあらず)

Sideboard
1 Ancient Tomb (古えの墳墓)
1 Karakas (カラカス)
4 Chalice of the Void (虚空の杯)
1 Pithing Needle (真髄の針)
4 Surgical Extraction (外科的摘出)
4 Abrupt Decay (突然の衰微)

Dark Depths is a combo deck that is not weak against anti-combo cards.
Wasteland is a problem, but I play Pithing Needle and Crop Rotation.

There is another reason I chose this deck.
To play Magic well, information and experience are the most important.
More information and experience = better decisions.
Often, I choose strange decks because opponents cannot prepare for them.
When opponents make bad decisions, it is easier to win.
I will always take Doomsday to new places because no one knows me...
However, I always play Doomsday in this area.
Everyone has experience against it, and I have taught players how to beat it.
I am not a strong Magic player, so surprise is the best weapon I have.
It worked very well. My opponents saw my cards and thought "This is the Land deck."
Anti-graveyard cards hurt the Land deck, but they do not hurt me.
Elvish Spirit Guide surprised many opponents, making early Marit Lage!

Here is my report.
This deck isn’t Doomsday, so I didn’t take notes.

Round 1 - Eldrazi
Game 1, I make Marit Lage quickly. (W)
Game 2, I can make Marit Lage on Turn 2, but my opponent has Wasteland and I die quickly. (L)
Game 3, I die on Turn 3 to many Eldrazi before I can make Marit Lage. (L)

So...I changed my deck, but I still can’t win against Eldrazi. Shit.

Round 2 - Bye

Round 3 - Affinity
Game 1, I die on Turn 3 to many Robots before I can attack with Marit Lage. (L)
Ornithopter is a flying blocker, and a problem.
(At that time, I had already lost to fast damage twice, so I heavily regretted my deck choice.)
Game 2, I make Marit Lage quickly. (W)
I made a mistake. I used Ghost Quarter on a useless land.
My opponent drew Blinkmoth Nexus next turn. I forgot about that card.
Game 3, I make Marit Lage quickly. (W)
My opponent has Echoing Truth, but no blue mana. I am lucky.

Round 4 - Miracles
Game 1, my opponent taps Karakas and his white lands to cast Entreat the Angels on draw step.
Elvish Spirit Guide makes a surprise Marit Lage, and Sejiri Steppe gives Pro: White (W)
Game 2, I cast Pithing Needle and name Sensei’s Divining Top.
My opponent had a weak hand and with Top, he couldn’t fix his hand.
2 Not of this World protected Marit Lage. (W)

Round 5 - Shardless BUG
We intentionally draw.
My opponent is terrified of my deck.
However, I am terrified of Wasteland.

I am in the Top 8, at 4th Place!

Quarterfinals - Bant
This match is very quick (I’m sorry!)
I win 2-0.

Semifinals - Lands
I play against my friend.
Game 1, he uses Manabond and puts Dark Depths in play.
I already have Thespian’s Stage, so I copy Dark Depths. (W)
Game 2, I Surgical Extraction Wasteland, and play Pithing Needle on Maze of Ith. (W)

Finals - Eldrazi
My opponent already has byes, so we split.

I won the byes!
...I was planning to travel to Sendai and Yamagata for more GPTs...
I have saved myself a lot of money on travel, haha.
I was regretting my deck choice in Round 3, but that was the last time I lost that day.

I also played in Hachinohe on Sunday.
Because I won on Saturday, I decided to play a fun deck.
I chose my friend’s Instant High Tide deck.
The deck wasn’t very good; I lost every match.
But that’s okay, because I have byes!

Until the GP, I will practice Doomsday very hard.
Last time, my results were 0-3, drop.
This time, I want to reach Day 2!

Last week, my family came to Japan, so I went to Tokyo.
Because I was with my family, I missed two GPTs!

My birthday is the Autumn Equinox, so my family let me play Magic.
However, the only GPT on that day...was Standard?
I played Legacy at Hareruya instead.

Of course, I played Doomsday. Same 75 cards.

Round 1 - RG Lands

I win the die roll.

Game 1, I mulligan to six.
My seven card hand was Underground Sea, Underground Sea, Volanic Island, Flooded Strand,LED, Gitaxian Probe, Duress.
I keep Island, Polluted Delta, LED, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish, Laboratory Maniac (scry Chromatic Sphere to the bottom).

My opponent’s first play is Wooded Foothills, activate for Taiga, Exploration, Gamble.
I win quickly, using Laboratory Maniac, with Chromatic Sphere to avoid Punishing Fire.

(W)

-Misty Rainforest, 1 LED, 3 Cabal Therapy, Rain of Filth
+2 Tropical Island, 4 Abrupt Decay

Game 2, I keep Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Tropical Island, Polluted Delta, Ponder, Brainstorm, Abrupt Decay.
This hand was very slow, so my opponent was able to set up Life from the Loam.
He also played Sphere of Resistance, but he was slow too so I could cast Abrupt Decay.
At the end of this game, my opponent has 3 Rishadan Ports and 2 Wastelands in play.
All my basic lands are in play (tapped every upkeep).
My hand is Polluted Delta, LED, Gitaxian Probe, Dark Ritual. If I can only find a Doomsday, I win.
I do not find Doomsday before my opponent finds Dark Depths + Thespian’s Stage.

(L)

Game 3, I mulligan to six.
My seven card hand was Island, Tropical Island, Volcanic Island, LED, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Laboratory Maniac.
I keep Swamp, Underground Sea, Flooded Strand, Sensei’s Divining Top, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder. I scry Dark Ritual to the top.
This is a turn 2 win if Ponder finds Doomsday.
My opponent plays Turn 1 Exploration, Turn 2 Dark Depths + Thespian’s Stage.
My Turn 2 Ponder doesn’t find Doomsday. I lose.

(L)

After this round, I am approached by a player who asks, "Are you Paul?"
He’s a newer Doomsday player, who heard of me from a friend I met at the last GP Chiba.
It was nice to see another Doomsday player!

Round 2 - Goblins

My opponent wins the die roll.

Game 1, I keep Underground Sea, Underground Sea, Flooded Strand, Misty Rainforest, Sensei’s Divining Top, Burning Wish.

My opponent’s Turn 1 play is Wooded Foothills, Mountain, Aether Vial.
He has no disruption. He dies quickly.

When I cast Doomsday, my opponent murmured to himself about Laboratory Maniac.
I wanted to win with Maniac to not leak information, but I am out of practice.
Don’t speak out loud about these things in front of your opponents!

(W)

-1 Island, Misty Rainforest, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 4 Duress
+2 Tropical Island, 4 Abrupt Decay, Cruel Bargain

Game 2, I keep Polluted Delta, Lotus Petal, LED, LED, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Brainstorm.

My opponent plays Goblin Lackey on Turn 1.
Then he plays Chalice of the Void (X=1) on Turn 2.
I expected Thalia, not Chalice. So, I’m dead.

(L)

Game 3, I keep Tropical Island, Flooded Strand, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, LED, Brainstorm, Cabal Therapy.

I don’t play Cabal Therapy on Turn 1, because my opponent can’t cast Chalice of the Void (X=1) until Turn 2.
My opponent casts Goblin Lackey and Chalice of the Void (X=0) on Turn 1.
I cast Cabal Therapy naming Chalice of the Void, and he discards one, revealing Cavern of Souls, Stingscourger, Goblin Piledriver, Krenko, Mob Boss.

If I spent more time thinking, I could win without casting any 0 mana spells.
However, instead I cast Ponder to search for Abrupt Decay.
I find Abrupt Decay, but I don’t have a draw source so I cannot win with Doomsday.

(L)

My tournament is over, but my friends are still able to enter Single Elimination. I play one more round.

Round 3 - Cleric Life Combo

I am at the lowest table.
I win the die roll.

I keep Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Ponder, Ponder, Burning Wish.

My opponent plays Windswept Heath, Tundra, Nomads en-Kor.
I refuse to lose to Turn 2 Cephalid Illusionist, so I cast Burning Wish for Massacre.
My opponent has no more plays, and dies.

This opponent also comments about Laboratory Maniac.
Since this game doesn’t matter, I show him the Laboratory Maniac below my Burning Wish.

I don’t remember how I sideboarded because I stopped caring.
Abrupt Decay is hard for Cephalids to beat, so +2 Tropical Island 4 Abrupt Decay.

Game 2, I mulligan to six.
My seven card hand was Swamp, Tropical Island, Flooded Strand, LED, Ponder, Doomsday, Laboratory Maniac. This is too slow against Cepahlids.
I keep Underground Sea, Swamp, Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish. I make a mistake and scry Polluted Delta to the bottom.
I cast Gitaxian Probe to see Flooded Strand, Pact of the Titan, Summoner’s Pact, Worthy Cause, Grand Abolisher.
My opponent is playing an infinite life combo, and sides in Hive Mind because of Maniac.
His hand is terrible, so I win quickly.

(W)

I won, but I dropped after this round.

For Round 4, I decided to watch the other Doomsday player.
It was interesting to see another player make decisions.
He played against BUG, and Leovold is a very difficult card to beat...
But he won!
I left with my friends after that.

We ate a lot of pizza to celebrate my birthday.

This weekend is a GPT in Shizukuishi.
I would always take Doomsday to a big store...
But recently there’s a lot of problem decks.
I’ll probably play a better metagame deck, because I really want Byes.